,v//^, 


CATHARINE. 


CATHARINE. 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OT 

'AGNES    AND    THE    LITTLE    KEY." 


THIRD     THOUSAND. 


BOSTON: 

J.  E.  TILTON    AND    COMPANY. 

LONDON:     KNIGHT  AND  SON. 
1859. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  CongrcFS,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

J.  E.  TILTON  &  CO., 

In  the  Clerli's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


PRIXTEU   BT 
OEOROE     C.     KA.ND     &    AVEKT. 


ELECTROTTPED     AT     THE 
BOSTON     STEREOTTPE     FOUNDR' 


TO    THE 

YOUNG  LADIES   OF  MY   CONGREGATION, 

FRIENDS    AND    ACQUAINTANCES    OP 

CATHARINE, 
AND  TO  EVERY  FATHER 

HAVING 

A     DAUGHTER     IN     HEAVEN, 
ARE  AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED. 

961898 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcinive 

in  2007  witin  funding  from 

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inttpV/www.archive.org/detaiis/catiiarineOOadamrich 


CONTENTS 


I. 

PAGE 

MORE  THAN  CONQUEROR, 9 

II. 

THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED,  ...    68 

III. 

THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED,     ...    89 

IV. 

THE  SILENCE  OF  THE  DEAD, 119 

V. 

THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY 144 


CATHAEINE. 


MORE   THAN   CONttUEROR. 

Is  that  a  death-bed  where  the  Christian  lies  f 
Yes,  — but  not  his:  'Tis  death  itself  there  dies. 

COLEBIDOK. 

She  was  not  an  infant  —  an  unconscious  sub- 
ject of  grace.  But  the  Saviour  has  led  through 
a  long  sickness,  and  through  death,  a  daughter 
of  nineteen  years,  and  has  made  her,  and  those 
who  loved  and  watched  her,  say.  We  are  more 
than  conquerors.  To  speak  of  Him,  and  not  to 
gratify  the  fondness  of  parental  love,  to  com- 
mend the  Saviour  of  my  child  to  other  hearts, 
and  to  obtain  for  Him  the  affections  of  those  to 
whom  He  is  able  and  willing  to  be  all  which  He 
was  to  her,  is  the  sole  object  of  these  pages. 

(9) 


10  CATHARINE. 

Listen,  then,  not  to  a  parent's  partial  tale  con- 
cerning his  child,  nor  concerning  mental  nor 
bodily  suffering,  but  to  the  words  of  one  who 
has  seen  how  the  presence  of  Christ,  and  love 
to  Him,  can  fill  the  dying  hours  with  the  sweet- 
est peace,  and  even  beauty,  and  the  hearts  of 
survivors  with  joy. 

Wishing  to  dwell  chiefly  on  the  last  scenes 
of  this  dear  child's  life,  the  reader  will  not  be 
delayed  by  any  biographical  sketch.  Nine 
years  before  her  death,  when  she  was  between 
ten  and  eleven  years  of  age,  she  gave  the  clear- 
est evidence  that  she  was  renewed  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  We  had  since  that  time  been  made 
happy  by  the  growing  power  of  Christian  prin- 
ciple in  her  conduct,  the  clearness  and  stead- 
fastness of  her  faith,  her  systematic  endeavors 
to  live  a  holy  life,  her  deep  regret  when  she 
had  erred,  and  her  resolute  efforts  to  improve 
in  every  part  of  her  character. 

Through  a  long  sickness,  with  consumption, 
for  two  years  and  three  months,  she  felt  the 
soothing  power  of  unfaltering  Christian  hope. 


MORE    THAN    CONQUEROR.  11 

which  was  evidently  derived  from  a  very  clear 
perception  of  the  way  to  be  saved  through 
Christ,  and  complete  trust  in  the  promises  made 
to  simple  faith  in  him. 

He  who  gave  me  this  child,  and  crowned  my 
hopes  and  wishes  by  the  manifest  signs  of  his 
love  towards  her,  merits  from  me  a  tribute  of 
gratitude  and  praise  to  which  I  desire  and 
expect  that  eternity  itself  may  bear  witness. 
They  who  read  the  story,  which  I  am  about  to 
relate,  of  her  last  few  days,  and  think  what  it 
must  be  for  a  father  to  see  his  child  made  com- 
petent to  meet  so  intelligently  and  deliberately, 
and  to  overcome,  the  last  enemy,  and,  in  doing 
so,  helping  to  sustain  and  to  comfort  those  who 
loved  her,  will  perceive  that  it  is  a  gift  from 
God  whose  value  nothing  can  increase.  Be- 
reavement and  separation  take  nothing  from  it, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  they  illustrate  and  enforce 
our  obligations.  For  since  we  must  needs  die, 
and  are  as  water  that  is  spilled  upon  the  ground, 
which  cannot  be  gathered  up  again,  such  a 
death  as  this  amounts  to  positive  happiness 


12  CATHARINE. 

by  the  side  of  a  contrasted  experience  in  the 
joyless,  hopeless  death  of  a  child,  or  friend. 
Bat  without  further  preface,  I  proceed  to  the 
narrative. 

Never  before  had  it  fallen  to  my  lot  to  bear 
that  message  to  one  who  was  sick,  "  The  Mas- 
ter is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee."  In  previous 
cases  of  deep,  personal  interest,  this  has  been 
unnecessary.  But  in  the  present  case  there 
was  a  resolute  purpose,  and  an  expectation,  of 
recovery,  till  within  a  week  of  dissolution,  and, 
on  our  part,  a  belief  that  life  might  still  be 
lengthened.  Such  cases  involve  nice  questions 
of  duty.  Where  the  patient  has  evidently 
made  timely  preparation  to  die,  it  is  needless 
to  dispel  that  half  illusion  which  seems  to  be 
one  feature  of  consumption  —  an  illusion 
which  is  so  thin  that  we  feel  persuaded  the 
patient  sees  through  it,  while,  nevertheless,  it 
serves  all  the  purposes  of  hope.  To  take  away 
that  hope  where  no  beneficial  end  is  to  be  se- 
cured, is   cruel.     A  mistaken,  and   somewhat 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  13 

morbid,  sense  of  duty  to  tell  tlie  whole  truth, 
and  a  conscientious  but  unenlightened  fear  of 
practising  deception,  sometimes  lead  friends  to 
remove,  from  a  sick  person,  that  power  which 
hope  gives  in  sustaining  the  sickness,  in  pro- 
longing comfort,  and  in  helping  the  gradual 
descent  into  the  grave.  When  a  sick  person  is 
resolute  and  hopeful,  it  is  surprising  to  see  how 
many  annoyances  of  sickness  are  prevented  or 
easily  borne,  and  how  life,  and  even  cheerful- 
ness, may  be  indefinitely  extended.  But  when 
hope  is  taken  away,  or,  rather,  when,  instead  of 
looking  towards  life  with  that  instinctive  love 
of  it  which  God  has  implanted,  we  turn  from 
"the  warm  precincts  of  the  cheerful  day," 
and  look  into  the  grave,  it  is  affecting  to  see 
how  the  disease  takes  advantage  of  it,  and  suf- 
ferings ensue  which  would  have  been  pre- 
vented by  keeping  up  even  the  ambiguous 
thoughts  of  recovery.  Sick  people  have  re- 
flections and  feelings  which  exert  an  influence 
upon  them  beyond  our  discernment,  and  which 
frequently  need  not  our  literal  interpretations 


14  CATHARINE. 

of  symptoms,  and  our  exhortations,  to  make 
them  more  effectual.  But  where  there  is  evi- 
dently no  preparedness  for  death,  and  the  pa- 
tient, we  fear,  is  deceiving  himself,  no  one  who 
has  suitable  views  of  Christian  duty  will  fail  to 
impress  him  with  the  necessity  of  attending  to 
the  things  which  belong  to  his  peace,  even  at 
considerable  risk  of  abridging  life. 

Waiting,  therefore,  for  medical  discernment 
to  signify  when  the  last  possible  effort  to 
lengthen  out  the  days  of  the  sufferer  had  been 
made,  one  morning  I  received  the  intimation 
that  those  days  would,  in  all  probability,  be 
but  very  few.  After  the  physician  had  left  the 
house,  and  I  had  sought  help  and  strength  from 
God,  I  lost  no  time,  but  took  my  place  at  the 
dear  patient's  side,  to  make  the  announcement. 

God  help  those  on  whom  he  lays  such  duty. 
The  hour  had  virtually  come  in  which  father 
and  child  must  part,  and  the  father  was  to 
break  that  message  to  his  child.  But  how 
could  mortal  strength  endure  the  effort? 

Before  I  left  my  room  for  hers,  there  came 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  15 

to  my  mind  these  words  —  "But  now^  thus 
saith  the  Lord  that  created  thee^  0  Jacob, 
and  he  that  formed  thee^  O  Israel^  Fear  not, 
for  I  have  redeemed  thee ;  I  have  called  thee 
by  thy  name ;  thou  art  mine.  When  thou 
passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with 
thee  ;  and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not 
overflow  thee;  when  thou  walkest  through 
the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burned,  neither  shall 
the  flame  kindle  upon  thee."  Trusting  in  that 
promise,  I  sat  down,  as  it  were,  over  against 
the  sepulchre,  to  prepare  my  child  for  her 
entrance  into  it,  —  nay,  for  her  departure 
into  heaven. 

The  gradual  arrival  of  the  truth  to  her  ap- 
prehension, through  questions  which  she  began 
to  ask,  and  my  answers  to  them,  finally  led  her 
to  inquire  if  I  supposed  she  could  not  live  long. 
I  told  her  that  the  physician  thought  that 
she  was  extremely  weak,  and  that  we  must  not 
be  surprised  at  any  sudden  event  in  her  case. 
She  said,  without  any  change  of  countenance, 
«  Why,  father,  you  surprise  me ;  I  thought  that 


16  CATHARINE. 

I  might  get  well ;  is  it  possible  that  I  cannot 
live  long  ?  I  have  thought  of  recovering 
much  more  than  of  dying.  .  .  It  seems  a  long 
space  to  pass  over  between  this  and  heaven/ in 
so  short  a  time.  I  wonder  how  I  can  so  sud- 
denly obtain  all  the  feelings  which  I  need  for 
such  a  change."  These  expressions  I  wrote 
down  immediately  after  the  interview.  I  told 
her,  in  reply,  that  she  had  been  living  at  peace 
with  God  through  his  Son ;  that  it  had  hitherto 
been  her  duty  to  live,  and  to  strive  for  it ;  but 
now  God  had  indicated  his  will  concerning  her, 
and  she  might  be  sure  that  God  will  always 
give  us  feelings  suited  to  every  condition  in 
which  he  sees  fit  to  place  us. 

On  seeing  her  again  towards  evening,  I  found 
that  the  expression  of  her  sick  face  ^  the 
weary,  exhausted  look  of  one  grappling  with 
a  stronger  power  —  had  passed  away,  and,  in 
exchange,  there  was  peace,  and  even  happiness. 
She  began  herself  to  say,  ^^  AVhen  you  told  me 
this  forenoon  that  I  could  not  live,  it  surprised 
me ;  but  I  have  come  to  it  now,  and  it  is  all 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  17 

right.  Every  thing  is  settled.  I  have  nothing 
to  do  —  no  fear,  no  anxiety  about  any  thing. 
More  passages  of  Scripture  and  verses  of 
hymns  have  come  to  my  mind  to-day,  than  in 
all  my  sickness  hitherto."  Wishes  respecting 
some  family  arrangements  were  then  ex- 
pressed, particularly  with  reference  to  the 
younger  children,  and  these  wishes  were  ut- 
tered in  about  the  same  tone  and  manner  as 
though  we  were  parting  for  a  temporary  ab- 
sence from  each  other.  The  mother  of  my 
youngest  child  had,  at  her  death,  given  her  in 
special  charge  to  this  daughter,  and  she  wished 
to  live  that  she  might  educate  her.  She  made 
the  transfer  of  her  little  trust  with  calmness, 
and  then  her  "  Good  night "  was  uttered  with 
a  gentle  playfulness,  like  that  of  her  early 
days. 

Nor  was  her  frame  of  mind  an  excitement, 
or  a  fictitious  experience,  to  end  with  sleep. 
The  next  forenoon  she  renewed  the  conversa- 
tion. She  said, "  In  the  night  I  awoke  many 
times,  and  always  with   this  thought  —  I  am 

2* 


18  CATHARINE. 

not  going  to  live.  Instead  of  fear  and  dread, 
peace  came  with  it.  Names  of  Christ  flowed 
in  upon  my  mind  3  and  once  I  awoke  with 
these  words  in  my  thoughts  —  ^And  there 
shall  be  no  night  there.'  Now  I  know  that  I 
am  to  die,  I  feel  less  nervous.  I  have  a  calm, 
unruffled  feeling."  She  expressed  some  nat- 
ural apprehensions,  only,  about  the  possibility 
of  dissolution  not  having  occurred  when  we 
should  suppose  that  she  was  no  more.  I  told 
her  how  kindly  God  had  ordered  it  that  we  do 
not  all  die  together,  but  one  by  one,  the  sur- 
vivors doing  all  that  the  departed  would  desire 
—  which  satisfied  her,  and  removed  her  only 
fear. 

She  asked  leave  to  make  a  request  respect- 
ing her  grave ;  that,  if  any  device  were  placed 
upon  the  stone,  it  might  be  of  flowers,  which 
had  been  such  a  joy  and  consolation  to  her  in 
her  sickness.  She  named  the  lily-of-the- valley 
and  rose  buds.  "I  love  the  white  flowers," 
said  she.  "  If  you  think  best,  let  them  be  rep- 
resented  in  some  simple  way.  .  .  One   great 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  19 

desire  which  I  have  had  was  to  assort  some 
leaves  of  flowers  into  forms  for  you.  As  my 
bouquets  fell  to  pieces,  I  gathered  the  best 
petals,  and  leaves,  and  sprigs,  and  I  have  them 
in  a  book;"  which,  at  her  request,  I  then 
reached  for  her.  I  turned  the  pages.  The 
book  was  full  of  beautiful  relics  from  tokens  of 
remembrance  which  kind  friends  had  sent  to 
her,  and  among  them  were  some  curiously  mot- 
tled, green  and  rose-colored,  petals,  which  she 
had  designed  for  a  wreath,  on  the  first  page  of 
the  little  herbarium,  which  it  was  her  intention 
to  prepare ;  and  then,  with  great  hesitancy, 
and  protesting  their  unworthiness,  she  repeated 
these  simple  lines,  which  she  had  composed  for 
an  inscription  within  the  wreath.  I  wrote 
them  down  from  her  lips : 

To  MY  Father. 

These  flowers,  which  gave  me  such  comfort  and  hope, 

I  pressed,  in  my  sickness,  for  you ; 
Accept  them,  though  faded ;  they  never  will  droop  ; 

And  believe  that  my  heart  is  there  too. 

They  who  showered  these  tokens  of  their 


20  -'  CATHARINE. 

regard  upon  her^  will  be  pleased  to  know  that 
their  gifts  did  not  wholly  perish,  but  that  they 
will  constitute  an  abiding  memorial  of  her 
friends,  as  well  as  of  her. 

"  I  know,"  she  continued,  "  that  I  am  a  great 
sinner;  but  I  also  believe  that  my  sins  are 
washed  away  by  the  blood  of  Christ."  The 
way  of  justification  by  faith  was  clear  to  her 
mind.  She  knew  whom  she  believed,  and  was 
persuaded  that  he  was  able  to  keep  that  which 
she  had  committed  to  him  against  that  day. 

In  her  whispering  voice,  which  disease  had 
for  some  time  so  nearly  hushed,  she  said,  "  I 
shall  sing  in  heaven."  Her  voice  had  been  the 
charm  of  many  a  pleasant  circle.  But  she 
added, ''  I  shall  no  more  sing  — 

*  I'm  a  pilgrim,  and  I'm  a  stranger  ; 
I  can  tarry,  I  can  tarry  but  a  night.'  " 

And  in  a  moment  she  added, — 

•*  Of  that  country  to  which  I  am  going, 
My  Redeemer,  my  Redeemer  is  the  light." 

"Some  people"  she  said,  "wish   to   die   in 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  21 

order  to  get  rid  of  pain.  What  a  motive! 
I  am  afraid  that  sometimes  they  get  rid  of  it 
only  to  renew  it.  There  was  — "  And  here 
she  checked  herself,  saying,  "  But  I  will  not 
mention  any  name,"  a  feeling  of  charitableness 
and  tenderness  coming  over  her,  as  though  she 
might  be  thought  to  have  judged  a  dying  per- 
son harshly. 

The  day  before  she  died,  as  I  was  spending 
the  Sabbath  forenoon  by  her,  she  breathed  out 
these  words:  — 

•'0,  how  soft  that  bed  must  be, 
Made  in  sickness,  Lord,  by  thee  ! 
And  that  rest,  how  soft  and  sweet, 
Where  Jesus  and  the  sufferer  meet !  " 

In  almost  the  same  breath,  she  said,  "  0,  see 
that  beautiful  yellow,"  —  directing  my  atten- 
tion to  a  sprig  of  acacia  in  a  bunch  of  flowers; 
all  showing  that  her  religious  feelings  were 
not  raptures,  but  flowed  along  upon  a  level 
with  her  natural  delight  at  beautiful  objects. 
To  illustrate  this,  I  have  mentioned  several  of 
the  incidents  already  related. 


22  CATHARINE. 

She  spoke  of  a  young  friend,  who  has  much 
that  the  world  gives  its  votaries  to  enhance 
her  prospects  in  this  Hfe.  I  said,  "Would  you 
exchange  conditions  with  her  ?  "  "  Not  for  ten 
thousand  worlds/'  was  her  energetic  reply. 
"  No ! "  she  added  ;  "  I  fear  she  has  not  chosen 
the  good  part." 

Sabbath  afternoon,  the  mortal  conflict  was 
upon  her.  The  restlessness  of  death,  the  crav- 
ing for  some  change  of  posture,  the  cold 
sweats,  the  labored  respiration,  all  had  the 
effect  merely  to  make  her  ask,  "  How  long  do 
you  think  I  must  suffer?"  That  labored 
breathing  tired  her ;  she  wished  that  I  could 
regulate  it  for  her.  "How  long,"  said  she, 
"will  it  probably  continue?" 

I  told  her  that  heaven  was  a  free  gift  at 
the  last  as  well  as  at  first;  that  we  could 
not  pass  within  the  gate  at  will,  but  must 
wait  God's  time;  that  there  were  sufferings 
yet  necessary  to  her  complete  preparation  for 
heaven,  of  which  she  would  see  the  use  here- 
after, but   not  now.     This    made  her  wholly 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  23 

quiet ;  and  after  that  she  rode  at  anchor  many 
hours,  hard  by  the  inner  hghthouse,  waiting 
for  the  Pilot. 

The  last  words  which  she  uttered  to  me,  an 
hour  before  she  died,  were,  "  I  am  going  to  get 
my  crown."  I  wondered  at  her  in  my  thoughts, 
(0,  help  my  unbelief!)  to  hear  a  dying  sin- 
ner so  confident.  I  said  to  myself,  ''  0  wo- 
man, great  is  thy  faith."  She  knew  that  her 
crown  was  a  free  gift,  purchased  at  infinite 
expense ;  a  crown,  instead  of  deserved  chains, 
under  darkness.  All  unmerited,  and  more  than 
forfeited,  yet  she  spoke  of  her  crown,  be- 
cause she  believed  with  a  simple  faith,  taking 
Christ  at  his  word,  and  being  willing  to  re- 
ceive rewards  and  honors  from  him  without 
projecting  her  own  sense  of  un worthiness  to 
stay  the  overflowings  of  infinite  love  and 
grace  towards  her.  So  that,  in  her  own  es- 
teem as  undeserving  as  the  chief  of  sinners, 
thinking  as  little  as  possible  of  her  own 
righteousness,  and  being  among  the  last  to 
claim  any  thing  of  God,  she  could  say  with 


24  CATHARINE. 

one  who  would  not  admit  that  any  sinner  w^as 
chief  above  him,  "  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up 
for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at 
that  day;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all 
them  also  that  love  his  appearing." 

Between  two  and  three  o'clock  on  Monday 
afternoon,  January  19,  she  w^as  quietly  re- 
ceiving some  food  from  the  nurse,  when  sud- 
denly she  said,  "  The  room  seems  dark."  She 
then  made  a  surprising  effort,  such  as  she  had 
been  incapable  of  for  some  time,  and  reached 
forward  from  her  pillow,  saying,  "  Who  is  that 
at  the  door  ?  "  The  nurse  was  with  her  alone, 
and  at  her  side,  the  family  being  at  the  table. 
Coming  to  her  room,  we  found  that  she  was 
apparently  sinking  into  a  deep  sleep,  as  though 
it  were  only  a  sleep,  profound  and  quiet. 

I  asked  her  if  she  knew  me. 

She  made  no  answer. 

I  said,  "  You  know  Jesus."  A  smile  played 
about  her  mouth.  We  rejoiced,  and  wept 
for  joy. 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  25 

I  then  said,  "  If  you  know  father,  press  my 
hand."  She  gave  me  no  sign  —  that  smile 
being  her  last  intelligent  act.  —  And  so  she 
passed  within  the  veil. 

I  was  able  to  relate  all  this  from  my  pulpit 
the  Sabbath  after  her  decease,  not  merely 
because  the  ^  period  of  the  greatest  suffering 
imder  bereavement  had  not  come,  but  chiefly 
because  the  consolations  of  the  trying  scene, 
and  hopes  full  of  immortality,  had  not  lost 
their  new  power.  I  was  therefore  like  those 
who,  on  the  first  Christian  Sabbath  morning, 
"departed  quickly  from  the  sepulchre  with 
fear  and  great  joy,  and  did  run  to  bring  his ' 
disciples  word." 

It  is  intimated  above  that  the  greatest  suf- 
fering at  the  death  of  a  friend  does  not  occur 
immediately  upon  the  event.  It  comes  when 
the  world  have  forgotten  that  you  have  cause 
to  weep  ;  for  when  the  eyes  are  dry,  the  heart 
is  often  bleeding.  There  are  hours,  —  no,  they 
are  more  concentrated  than  hours,  —  there  are 
moments,  when  the  thought  of  a  lost  and  loved 


26  CATHARINE. 

one,  who  has  perished  out  of  your  family  circle, 
suspends  all  interest  in  every  thing  else ;  when 
the  memory  of  the  departed  floats  over  you 
like  a  wandering  perfume,  and  recollections 
come  in  throngs  with  it,  flooding  the  soul  with 
grief  The  name,  of  necessity  or  accidentally 
spoken,  sets  all  your  soul  ajar ;  and  your  sense 
of  loss,  utter  loss,  for  all  time,  brings  more  sor- 
row with  it  by  far  than  the  parting  scene. 

She  who  was  the  sweet  singer  of  my  little 
Israel  is  no  more.  The  child  whose  sense  of 
beauty  made  her  the  swiftest  herald  to  me  of 
every  fair  discovery  and  new  household  joy, 
will  never  greet  me  again  with  her  surprises 
of  gladness.  She  who,  leaning  upon  my  arm 
as  we  walked,  silently  conveyed  to  me  such  a 
sense  of  evenness,  firmness,  dignity ;  she  whose 
child-like  love  was  turning  into  the  womanly 
affection  for  a  father ;  she  who  was  complete  in 
herself,  as  every  good  child  is,  not  suggesting 
to  your  thoughts  what  you  would  have  a  child 
be,  but  filling  out  the  orb  of  your  ideal  beauty, 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  27 

still  partly  in  outline ;  her  seat,  her  place  at 
the  table,  at  prayers,  at  the  piano,  at  church ; 
the  sight  of  her  going  out  and  coming  in ;  her 
tones  of  speech,  her  helpful  spirit  and  hands, 
and  all  the  unfinished  creations  of  her  skill, 
every  thing  that  made  her  that  which  the 
growing  associations  with  her  name  had  built 
up  in  our  hearts,  —  all  is  gone,  for  this  life ;  it 
is  removed  like  a  tree  3  it  is  departed  like 
a  shepherd's  tent. 

And  all  this,  too,  is  saved.  It  survives,  or 
I  would  not,  I  could  not,  write  thus.  There 
comes  to  my  sorrowing  heart  some  such  mes- 
sage as  the  sons  of  Jacob  brought  to  their 
father,  when  they  said,  "Joseph  is  yet  alive, 
and  he  is  governor  over  all  the  land  of 
Egypt." 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  has  been  in  my  dwelling, 
and  has  done  a  great  work  of  healing.  He 
has  saved  my  child ;  saved  her  to  be  a  happy 
spirit ;  forever  saved  her  for  himself,  to  employ 
her  powers  of  mind  and  heart  in  his  blissful 
service  ;  saved  her  for  the  joyful  welcome  and 


28  CATHARINE. 

embraces  of  her  mother,  and  of  a  second 
mother,  who  laid  deep  and  strong  foundations 
in  her  character  for  goodness  and  knowledge. 
He  has  saved  her  for  me,  through  all  eter- 
nity. She  will  be  my  sweet  singer  again; 
she  will  have  in  store  for  me  all  the  wonderful 
discoveries  which  her  intense  love  of  beauty 
will  have  made  her  treasure  up,  to  impart, 
when  the  child  becomes,  as  it  were,  parent, 
for  a  little  while,  to  the  soul  of  the  parent 
in  heaven,  new-born.  I  said  to  her,  a  day  or 
two  before  she  died, '-  Those  mothers  will  show 
you  things  in  heaven;  for  we  read,  'And  he 
shewed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear 
as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of 
God  and  the  Lamb.'" 

But  John  mistook  this  heavenly  saint  for 
an  angel,  so  glorious  was  his  appearance,  and 
he  fell  down  to  worship  him,  but  was  told, 
"See  thou  do  it  not;  for  I  am  thy  fellow- 
servant,  and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and 
of  them  which  keep  the  sayings  of  this  book." 
Then  what  will  she  herself  be,  when  these  eyes 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  29 

behold  her  again?  And  what  will  she  have 
treasured  up  to  tell  me?  she,  who  always 
brought  rare  things  for  me  from  the  woods 
and  the  shore,  surpassing  those  of  her  com- 
panions. If  He  who  redeemed  her,  and  has 
presented  her  faultless  before  the  presence  of 
his  glory  with  exceeding  joy,  will  bestow  that 
nurture  and  culture  upon  her  which  are  im- 
plied in  leading  her  to  living  fountains  of 
waters,  what  will  she  be?  and  how  good  it 
will  seem  that  she  left  earth  so  early,  since  it 
was  the  will  of  God,  to  enter  upon  such  a 
career  of  bliss ! 

A  few  years  ago,  I  appropriated  a  wedding 
gift  from  a  friend  to  the  purchase  of  a  gui- 
tar for  her,  as  a  birthday  gift  in  her  early 
sickness.  To  assist  her  in  learning  to  play 
upon  it,  I  first  gained  some  knowledge  of  the 
instrument.  We  kept  it  in  its  case  in  my 
study ;  and  sometimes,  on  coming  home,  and 
feeling  in  the  mood  of  it,  I  wished  to  handle 
it,  and  instead  of  unlocking  the  case  to 
see   if  the   instrument   were   there,  I   would 


30  CATHARINE. 

knock  upon  it ;  and  straightway  what  turbu- 
lence of  harmonies  rang  from  all  the  strings. 
Now,  it  is  so  with  every  thing  connected  with 
her  memory  ;  every  thing  associated  with  her, 
even  though  outwardly  sombre  and  dreary, 
like  those  black  cases  for  musical  instruments, 
being  appealed  to,  or  accidentally  encountered, 
sings  of  her  still,  with  a  troubled  and  a 
pathetic,  pleasing   music. 

In  her  very  early  childhood,  she  and  two 
of  the  children  were  sick  with  a  children's 
epidemic.  The  crisis  had  passed ;  an  anxious 
day  with  regard  to  one  of  the  children  had 
been  followed  by  entire  relief  from  our  fears. 
As  we  sat  at  table  that  evening,  we  heard 
music  from  the  chambers  of  the  sick  chil- 
dren ;  we  opened  the  door  and  listened.  This 
daughter  was  singing,  and  the  chorus  of  her 
little  school  song  was,  "All  are  here,  all  are 
here."  She  did  not  think  of  the  signification 
which  those  words  had  to  our  hearts.  It  was 
one  of  those  household  pleasures  which  have 
so  much  of  heaven  in  them.     I  can  sometimes 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  31 

hear  her  singing  to  me  now,  from  those  upper 
skies,  in  the  name  of  tlie  four  who  have  gone 
there  from  my  dwelHng,  "  All  are  here,  all  are 
here."  She  bequeathed  her  guitar,  but  her 
voice  and  hand  now  join  with  "the  voice  of 
harpers  harping  with  their  harps." 

We  sometimes  think  that  they  miss  great 
good  who  depart  from  us  in  early  years  -,  that 
one  who  has  arrived  at  the  entrance  to  the 
world's  great  feast  must  be  sadly  disappointed 
to  be  led  away,  never  to  go  in.  Now,  it  is  true 
that  we  must  not  shrink  from  the  battle  of 
life;  we  must  take  upon  ourselves,  if  God 
ordains  it,  the  great  jeopardy  of  disappoint- 
ment and  sorrow,  and  the  chance  of  life's  joys ; 
we  must  each  stand  in  his  lot ;  we  must  send 
children  forth  into  the  harvest  of  the  earth  for 
sheaves,  and  whether  they  faint  and  die  under 
their  load,  or  deck  themselves  with  garlands, 
—  still,  let  them  be  laborers  together  with 
God,  and  let  us  not  seek  exemption  for  them. 
But  if  God  ordains  their  early  translation  to 
heaven,  what  can  earth  afford  them  in  the  way 


32  CATHARINE. 

of  pleasure,  granting  the  cup  to  be  full  and 
unalloyed,  to  be  compared  with  fulness  of 
joy  ?  Fair  maidens  in  heaven,  —  and  0,  how 
many  of  them  has  consumption  gathered  in ! 
—  fair  maidens  there  are  like  the  white  flowers, 
which  are  sacred  to  peculiar  times  and  scenes. 
How  goodly  must  be  their  array !  What  a  per- 
petual spring  tide  of  vivacious  joy  and  delight 
do  they  create  in  heaven.  It  is  pleasant  to 
have  a  child  among  them. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  see,  in  this  child, 
an  example  of  true  preparation  for  death, 
which  begins  before  the  expectation  of  dying 
brings  the  least  discredit,  or  breath  of  suspicion, 
upon  our  motives  in  attending  to  the  subject 
of  religion.  Preparation  for  death  consists  in 
justification  by  faith,  extending  its  influence 
into  the  whole  character,  to  bring  us  under 
the  rule  of  Christ.  The  fruit  of  this  is  friend- 
ship with  God,  the  confidence  of  love,  know- 
ing whom  we  have  believed,  with  the  per- 
suasion of  our  haying  committed  to  him  an 
infinite   trust,  and   that  he  will  keep   it  with 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  33 

covenant  faithfulness.  So  when  death  comes 
and  knocks  at  the  door,  it  is  true  the  heart 
beats  quicker,  as  it  is  apt  to  do  whoever 
knocks  there;  for,  to  give  up  one's  hold  on 
life,  to  turn  and  look  eternal  things  full  in  the 
face,  to  think  of  meeting  God,  and  of  having 
your  endless  condition  fixed,  summons  the 
whole  of  natural  and  acquired  fortitude ;  and 
only  they  who  have  an  unseen  arm  to  lean 
upon  at  such  a  time,  endure  in  that  trial. 
Then  past  experience  comes  in  with  her 
powerful  aid  :  "  I  have  fought  a  good  fight ; " 
"  the  wise  took  oil  in  their  vessels  with  their 
lamps;"  "remember,  0  Lord,  how  I  have 
walked  before  thee."  Thus  there  is  something 
to  make  you  feel  that  your  justification,  by 
free  grace,  has  the  evidence  afforded  by  its 
fruits ;  and  the  preparation  to  die  may  be 
likened  to  that  of  which  the  Saviour  speaks 
when  he  says,  "  He  that  is  washed  needeth  not 
save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is  clean  every  whit." 
I  have  seen  it,  have  w^atched  it,  have  studied 
it;  in  the  dying  scenes  of  this  child.     Hers  was 


34  CATHARINE. 

not  the  experience  of  the  sinner,  pulled  sud- 
denly from  the  waves  by  a  hand  which  he  had 
for  a  long  time,  nay,  always,  spurned ;  but  her 
dying  was  an  arrival  at  the  end  of  a  voyage, 
the  coming  home  of  a  good  child  to  long- 
expecting  hearts  and  arms.  We  said  one  to 
another  around  her  dying  bed,  —  yes,  we  had 
composure  to  say,  as  we  watched  that  parting 
scene,  that  fading  cloud,  that  sinking  gale,  that 
dying  wave,  that  shutting  eye  of  day, — 
''-  Think  of  such  a  poor,  helpless,  dying  creature, 
if,  in  the  sense  intended  by  those  w^ords,  she 
should  '  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God.' " 
And  w^e  glorified  God  in  her.  Never  did  I  see 
and  feel  more  deeply,  by  contrast,  the  folly  of 
trusting  to  a  death-bed  repentance,  to  repair 
the  errors  of  a  wasted  life.  It  is  a  deliberate 
attempt  at  fraud  upon  the  Most  High;  it  is 
folly;  for  the  risk  is  fearful,  and  could  we  ob- 
tain salvation,  how  mercenarily !  —  and  what  a 
memorial  would  it  be  in  heaven  of  loss,  instead 
of  being  "  a  crown  of  righteousness ! "  They 
who  are  all  their  lifetime  ignorant,  being  unfor- 


MORE    THAN    CONQUEROR.  35 

tunatelj  deprived  of  opportunity  for  religious 
instruction^  may  with  wonder  and  joy  accept 
the  surprising  news  of  pardon,  through  Christ, 
on  a  dying  bed,  and  soar  to  the  same  heights 
with  apostles  in  their  praises  of  redeeming  love. 
But  if  we  hear  of  salvation  by  Christ  all  our 
life  long,  and  know  our  duty,  but  prefer  the 
pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season,  and  think  that  in 
the  swellings  of  Jordan  we  shall  find  peace 
and  safety,  our  conduct  deserves  all  the  oppro- 
brious names  which  are  heaped  upon  it  by 
inspired  tongues  and  pens.  We  who  are 
parents  must  teach  our  children  that  religion 
does  not  consist  merely  in  being  pardoned, 
and,  if  pardoned,  no  matter  whether  early  or 
late ;  but  that  it  is  the  first,  the  constant,  the 
all-pervading  rule  of  life,  God  and  his  service 
the  chief  end  of  man,  and  that  the  pleasures 
of  religion  are  the  sweetest  pleasures,  hallow- 
ing all  others  which  are  innocent,  and  leading 
us  to  reject  those,  and  only  those,  which  would 
be  unsuitable  or  injurious,  even  if  religious 
custom  did  not  forbid  them.     We  must  know 


86  CATHARINE. 

this,  and  practise  upon  it,  ourselves  ;  else,  how 
can  we  expect  the  children  to  believe  it? 

The  exceeding  relief  which  a  timely  prep- 
aration for  death  by  an  early  consecration 
of  herself  to  God,  imparted  to  this  child  and 
to  us,  was  felt  in  this,  that  she  and  we  had 
no  distressing  thoughts  at  her  total  inability, 
for  a  long  time,  to  join  in  prayer  with  others, 
or  to  be  conversed  with  in  any  way  that 
excited  much  feeling.  The  diseased  throat, 
where,  as  we  all  know,  our  emotions,  even 
in  health  and  strength,  make  such  interfer- 
ence with  our  comfort,  prevented  her  from 
joining  in  any  religious  exercises,  because  she 
would  then  be  liable  to  the  excitement  of 
feelings  which,  in  the  way  just  intimated, 
would  have  injured  her.  With  such  affec- 
tions of  the  bronchial  passages,  efforts  of 
mind  which  are  not  spontaneous  are  some- 
times agony.  Connected  endeavors  to  follow 
conversation  and  prayer  were  impossible,  and 
she  told  me,  on  saying  this,  that  she  took 
great    comfort    from    a    remark,  in   a  book, 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  37 

addressed  to  a  sick  person  —  "Do  not  think, 
but  pray."  She  prayed  much  herself;  her 
thoughts,  too,  were  prayers,  in  certain  cases. 
Now,  in  that  weakened  condition,  what  coidd 
she  have  done,  and  what  would  have  been  her 
father's  feelings,-  had  she  not,  in  health  and 
strength,  arrived  at  such  a  state  of  religious 
knowledge  and  experience  as  to  remove  anxi- 
ety for  her  spiritual  welfare,  and  to  make  us 
feel  that  she  had  Christ  in  her,  the  hope  of 
glory  ?  When  the  cry  was  made,  ''  Behold, 
the  bridegroom  cometh,"  she  arose  and 
trimmed  her  lamp,  and  had  oil  in  her  ves- 
sel with  her  lamp.  Wealth  could  not  pur- 
chase the  relief  and  satisfaction  which  this 
gave  to  her  friends ;  —  so  truly  is  religion 
called  the  "  pearl  of  great  price  ; "  so  literally 
true  are  the  Saviour's  words,  "  But  one  thing 
is  needful."  It  is  the  greatest  blessing  which 
a  young  person  can  bestow  on  Christian 
parents,  to  be  a  Christian;  and  what  its 
value  is  to  surviving  parents,  ask  those  who 
sorrow  as  they  that  have  no  hope.     When  a 


38  CATHARINE. 

young  Christian  comes  to  die,  he  testifies  that 
he  lost  nothing,  but  gained  every  thing,  with 
eternal  life,  by  being  a  Christian  in  his  early 
years.  I  can  imagine  what  this  child  would 
say  to  one  and  another  of  her  young  friends 
who  may  read  these  pages,  and  how  she  would 
seek  to  persuade  them,  as  the  first  great  duty 
of  their  existence,  and  for  their  best  good 
here,  and  for  their  everlasting  peace,  to  choose 
the  good  part,  which  will  never  be  taken  away 
from  them. 

Her  funeral  was  a  scene  from  Avhich  many 
went  away  rejoicing  in  God ;  and  not  a  few 
date  new  progress  in  the  Christian  life  from 
it,  by  means  of  the  new  and  striking  illustra- 
tion which  they  there  had  of  the  Saviour's 
power  and  love.  The  Choir  struck  the  key 
note  of  heaven  in  their  opening  strains,  by. 
chanting,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain, 
to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing." 
They  gave  us,  too,  her  favorite  song,  by  which 
she  was  remembered  in  several  circles,  at  home 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  39 

and  abroad,  before  she  was  sick,  and  the  words 
of  which-,  now,  seem  to  have  had  a  prophetic 
meaning  from  her  lips :  — 

*»  I'm,  a  pilgrim,  and  I'm  a  stranger  ; 
I  can  tarry,  I  can  tarry  but  a  night ;  "  — 

which  was  sung  at  the  funeral  with  a  sweet- 
ness which  added  much  to  the  associations 
with  it  in  our  minds ;  and  in  the  closing  hymn, 
how  strange  it  seemed,  at  a  funeral,  to  hear 
the  singers,  though  by  our  own  request  and 
though  in  accordance  with  all  which  had  passed, 
bid  us 

"  Proclaim  abroad  his  name, 
Tell  of  his  matchless  fame, 

What  wonders  done  ! 
Shout  through  hell's  dark  profound, 
Let  the  whole  earth  resound, 
Till  the  high  heavens  rebound. 
The  victory's  won  ;  "  — 

and  to  hear  them,  as  they  cried  one  to  an- 
other, saying, — 

<<  All  hail  the  glorious  day. 
When,  through  the  heavenly  way, 
Lo,  He  shall  come ; 


40  CATHARINE. 

While  they  who  pierced  liim  wail ; 
His  promise  shall  not  fail ; 
Saints,  see  your  King  prevail ; 
Come,  dear  Lord,  come." 

For  those  ministrations  of  love  and  tender- 
ness in  the  last,  sad  offices  to  the  dead,  which 
no  wealth  could  buy,  repeated  now  by  some  of 
the  same  hands  several  times  in  my  dwelling, 
there  are  no  words  of  gratitude  adequate  to 
the  great  debt  of  love.  The  mothers  of  my 
church,  who  met  weekly  with  her  mother  for 
prayer,  remembered  her  child,  and  provided 
nurses  for  her,  to  her  own  unspeakable  com- 
fort and  our  great  relief  Friends  and  stran- 
gers, touched  with  her  protracted  sickness, 
poured  blessings  around  her  couch ;  fruits,  in 
their  season,  and  when  out  of  their  season,  of 
what  almost  unearthly  beauty !  and  flowers 
which,  with  ^he  fruits,  made  that  sick  room 
seem  like  the  garden  which  the  Lord  planted 
in  Eden.  Such  have  been  the  alleviations  of 
pain  and  suffering,  the  comforts,  and  even  the 
pleasures,  and  above  all  the  rich  spiritual  con- 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  41 

solations  and  joys,  and  the  more  than  con- 
quering faith  of  the  dying  hour,  —  such  a  union 
in  all  this  of  Jesus  and  his  friends,  —  that  I 
have  made  the  case  of  the  ruler  of  the  syna- 
gogue mine,  of  whom,  as  he  went  to  his  afflict- 
ed house,  it  is  said,  "  And  Jesus  arose  and  fol- 
lowed him,  and  so  did  his  disciples."  They 
will  go  wherever  Jesus  leads  the  way ;  and  he 
will  lead  the  way  wherever  there  is  a  lamb  to 
be  folded  in  his  bosom. 

There  were  not  wanting  those  who  lent  me 
their  sepulchre,  in  the  city,  for  a  season  —  a 
kindness  always  peculiar  and  affecting,  but  also 
needful  in  this  instance,  because  of  the  great 
snows  which  made  the  roads  to  Mount  Auburn 
impassable  for  several  days.  Nor  can  I  forget 
that,  when  Saturday  evening  closed  upon  us, 
words  and  tokens  of  kindness  came  from  the 
younger  members  of  my  cong^;egation,  who 
had  provided  for  the  last  earthly  things 
which  the  precious  dust  of  their  young  friend 
required ;  and  so  they  seemed  to  bid  me  rest 
from    all    care    and    thoughtfulness,  upon   the 


42  CATHARINE. 

^^  Sabbath    day,   according   to     the    command- 
ment."    All  which    should   increase    my  feel- 
ings of  sympathy  and  kindness  for  the  sick, 
and  especially  for  the  sick  poor,  whose  rooms, 
and  whose  dying  hours,  and  whose  griefs,  are 
oftentimes  in  such  contrast  to  those  into  which 
divine  and  human  loving  kindness  seem  striv- 
mg  to  pour  their  abundant  consolations.     As 
the  family  retired  from  the  dying  scene,  and 
were  weeping  together,  a  father  came  to  my 
door,  in  that  great  snow-storm,  to  say  that  his 
son,  the  young   man,  not   a   member   of   my 
congregation,  whom  I  had  several   times  vis- 
ited, Avas  near  his  end,  and  would  like  to  see 
me.     Stranger  comparatively  though  he  was, 
and  impassable    as    the    streets  were    by  any 
vehicle,  and   almost   by   foot   passengers,  my 
gratitude  for  the  sweet   and  peaceful   end  of 
my  own    dear   child,  and   for  her  undoubted 
admission  to  the  realms  of  bliss,  was  such,  that, 
within  an  hour  or  two,  I  forced   my  way  to 
a  distant  part  of  the    city,  to  assist    another 
departing  spirit  for  its  flight.     This  heart  has 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  43 

no  more  fortitude,  nor  has  it  less  of  natural 
affection  and  sensibility,  than  ordinarily  falls 
to  the  lot  of  men;  hence  those  consolations 
must  have  been  great,  that  support  and 
strength  equal  to  the  day,  that  hope  con- 
cerning my  child  an  anchor  sure  and  steadfast, 
which  enabled  me  thus  to  go  from  her  clay, 
just  cold,  to  aid  a  passing  spirit  in  obtaining 
like  precious  faith  with  hers,  and  the  same 
inheritance.  My  motive  in  thus  lifting  a 
little  of  the  veil,  or  in  placing  a  light  behind 
the  transparency,  of  my  private  feelings,  I 
trust  will  be  seen  to  be,  that  I  may  comfort 
others  with  the  comfort  wherewith  I  was 
comforted  of  God. 

But  there  a^vaits  me  a  blessing,  with  a  joy, 
surpassing  all  that  has  gone  before.  "My 
daughter  is  even  now  dead;  but  come  and 
lay  thy  hand  upon  her,  and  she  shall  live." 
From  her  grave,  which  was  soon  made  by 
the  side  of  kindred  dust,  Jesus  will  raise  her 
up  at  the  last  day ;  her  voice  will  come  to  that 
body;   her   youthful   beauty  will  be  reestab- 


44  CATHARINE. 

lished  by  her  likeness  to  Christ's  own  glo- 
rious body;  she  will  lean  upon  my  arm 
again ;  the  separation  and  absence  will  en- 
hance the  joy  of  meeting;  we  shall  say, 
How  like  a  hand-breadth  was  the  separa- 
tion! We  shall  see  reasons  full  of  wisdom 
and  love  for  the  sickness  and  the  early  death. 
We  shall  part  no  more.  All  this  has  more 
than   once   made   me   say,  and   sing, — 

«<  O,  for  this  love,  let  rocks  and  hills 
Their  lasting  silence  break, 
And  all  harmonious  human  tongues 
The  Saviour's  praises  speak." 

Young  friend,  you  will  need  him  as  the 
great  Physician,  the  Friend  in  sorrow,  the 
Forerunner  in  the  dark  passages  of  life,  the 
Conqueror  of  death,  the  Lord  our  Righteous- 
ness, and,  all  endearing  names  in  one,  Im- 
manuel,   God   with   us. 

Parents,  you  will  need  him  for  your  chil- 
dren. Children,  you  will  need  him  w^hen 
father  and  mother,  one  or  both,  have  forsaken 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  45 

you,  or,  if  alive,  can  only  make  you  feel  how 
little  their  fond  love  can  do  for  you.  When 
the  name  o^  father,  cannot  rouse  you,  nor  your 
cold  hand  return  the  pressure  of  your  father's 
hand,  you  will  need  a  nearer,  dearer  friend,  in 
the  person  of  Him  who  loved  you,  and  gave 
himself  for  you. 

It  has  been  one  of  the  richest  joys  of  my 
pastoral  life,  that  I  have  sent  to  her  mother 
in  heaven  her  child,  whom  God  had  prepared 
for  so  early  a  departure  out  of  this  world. 
This  ministry  of  reconciliation  has  been  blessed 
to  the  salvation  of  my  child.  It  should  make 
me  love  the  children  of  my  pastoral  charge 
more  than  ever,  seek  to  gather  them  into  the 
fold  of  Christ,  that  whole  families,  each  like  a 
constellation,  may  rise  together  in  the  firma- 
ment of  heaven ;  and,  in  the  mean  time,  that 
the  members  of  every  household,  as  they 
desert  us  one  by  one,  may  call  back  to  us,  and 
say,  for  the  departed,  "  All  are  here." 

God  takes  a  family  here  and  there,  in  a 
circle  of  acquaintances  and  friends,  and  greatly 


46  CATHARINE. 

afflicts  them ;  and  thus  he  teaches  others.  As 
we  look,  therefore,  upon  the  afflicted,  we  ought 
to  say, — 

'•For  us  they  languish,  and  for  us  they  die  ; 
And  shall  they  languish,  shall  they  die,  in  vain  ? " 

God .  is  the  same  when  he  takes  away  the 
child,  as  when  he  laid  that  gift  in  our  hands. 
Perhaps,  indeed,  the  removal  is  really  a 
greater  exercise  of  love  than  the  gift.  It 
must  seem  good  and  acceptable  in  the  sight 
of  God,  if,  when  we  are  bereaved,  we  employ 
ourselves  occasionally  in  rehearsing  before 
him  the  circumstances  in  his  past  goodness, 
which,  at  the  time,  made  it  exceedingly  sweet 
and  precious.  Our  debt  of  obligation  for  it  is 
not  yet  fully  paid ;  nor  is  it  diminished  at  all 
by  the  removal  of  the  blessing.  Instead  of 
abandoning  ourselves  to  grief,  we  do  well  if 
we  commune  with  God  more  frequently  re- 
specting his  signal  acts  of  favor  in  connection 
with  the  lost  blessing. 

But  the  memory  of  lost  joys  is  always  apt 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  47 

to  depress  the  mind  inordinately.     We  ques- 
tion whether  it  is  really  better  to  have 

<' loved  and  lost 
Than  never  to  have  loved  at  all." 

Taking  a  future  life  into  the  account,  surely 
no  doubt  can  remain  as  to  that  question ;  but 
one  who  has  really  loved,  will  not  be  long  in 
coming  to  the  same  conclusion,  irrespective  of 
the  future.  Must  God  abstain  from  making 
us  exceedingly  happy,  because,  forsooth,  we 
shall  be  so  unhappy  when,  in  the  exercise  of 
the  same  goodness  and  wisdom  which  dictated 
the  gift,  he  sees  it  best  to  take  it  away  ?  If 
we  love  him  more  than  we  love  his  gifts,  then 
the  removal  of  them  will  make  us  love  him 
more  than  ever. 

•<  Though  now  He  frowns,  I'll  praise  the  Almighty's  name, 
And  bless  the  source  whence  past  enjoyments  came." 

We  often  hear  it  said,  that  every  thing  which 
happens  to  us  is  for  our  good,  even  in  this 
world.  —  Many  things  happen  to  men,  even  to 


48  CATHARINE. 

Christians,  which  are  plainly  not  for  their  good 
in  this  life,  though  all  things  will,  eventually, 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God. 
Some  things,  then,  even  here,  are  intended  to 
be  life-long  sorrows  and  trials.  Their  object  is 
reproof  and  constant  admonition.  We  need 
another  state  of  existence  to  explain  the  pres- 
ent. If  that  future  state  does  not  prove  that 
earthly  discipline  has  had  its  designed  effect, 
the  sorrows  of  this  life  show  that  God  can  bear 
to  see  us  suffer,  even  when  he  foresees  that  no 
good  will  result  to  the  sufferer.  For  while 
men  suffer  excruciatingly  under  bereavements, 
these  sufferings  often  fail  to  make  them  better. 
God  foresees  all  this.  Hence  God  is  able  to 
look  upon  suffering  which  he  sees  will  not  be 
for  the  good  of  the  afflicted. 

If,  now,  his  design  in  our  trials  (which 
pierced  his  heart  before  they  reached  ours)  is 
utterly  frustrated  by  our  sins,  the  question  will 
arise,  whether  the  God  who  can  bear  to  see  us 
suffer  for  our  good,  which,  nevertheless,  he 
foresees  will  not  be  effected,  will  not  be  able  to 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  49 

see  us  suffer  as  the  fruit  of  our  sins,  and  of  our 
resistance  to  his  designs.  One  who  has  en- 
dured much  mental  suffering  cannot  have 
failed  to  see,  that  God's  parental  relation  to  us 
is  not  analogous  to  that  of  parent  and  child 
among  men.  It  terminates  in  the  relations 
of  governor  and  of  judge  ;  being,  indeed,  from 
the  first,  included  in  those  relations.  This  is  not 
so  in  our  earthly  relationship.  God  sees  men 
suffer  as  no  earthly  parent  could ;  he  inflicts 
pain  as  no  earthly  parent  should.  All  is  for 
our  profit ;  but  if  that  object  fails  through  our 
perverseness,  we  are  instructed,  by  our  expe- 
rience, that  if  God  can  look  on  mental  anguish 
and  not  relieve  it,  because  he  seeks  an  ulterior 
good,  the  punishment  of  sin,  the  natural  and 
just  consequences  of  disobedience  to  the  great 
laws  of  the  universe,  may  be,  in  their  extended 
impression,  another  ulterior  good,  which  will 
warrant  the  same  mental  sufferings  after  death, 
and  forever. 

Could   I   be   permitted,  therefore,  I   would 
take  by  the  hand  every  bereaved  father  whom 


50  CATHARINE. 

SO  great  an  affliction  as  the  death  of  a  child 
has  not  succeeded  in  bringing  into  a  state  of 
preparation  for  heaven,  and  kindly  ask  how 
he  expects  to  bear  a  final  and  endless  sepa- 
ration. "If  thou  hast  run  with  the  footmen, 
and  they  have  wearied  thee,  then  how  canst 
thou  contend  with  horses  ?  and  if  in  the  land 
of  peace,  wherein  thou  trustedst,  they  wearied 
thee,  then  how  wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of 
Jordan  ?  "  God  describes  to  his  ancient  people 
one  of  the  great  sorrows  which  will  happen  to 
them,  if  they  forsake  him,  in  their  separations, 
by  captivity,  from  their  children:  "Thy  sons 
and  thy  daughters  shall  be  given  unto  another 
people,  and  thine  eyes  shall  look,  and  fail  with 
longing,  for  them  all  the  day  long ;  and  there 
shall  be  no  might  in  thy  hand."  Pains  of 
absence,  sudden  convulsions  of  feeling  at  the 
remembered  looks,  form,  words,  and  motions  of 
a  loved  one,  sometimes  are  as  when  men  feel  the 
earth  quaking  under  them;  and  then,  again, 
they  entirely  prostrate  us,  for  the  moment,  like 
a  tornado.     Homesickness  in  a  foreign  land,  — 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  51 

an  ocean  stretching  between  us  and  the  ob- 
jects of  our  love  —  is  an  admonition  to  us 
with  respect  to  future,  endless  separations. 
The  hopeless  death  of  a  child  has  sometimes 
had  the  effect  to  change  the  long-established 
fliith  of  a  parent  with  regard  to  future  retribu- 
tion ;  all  the  acknowledged  principles  of  inter- 
pretation, all  the  results  of  meditation  and 
prayer,  the  theory  of  the  divine  government 
which  has  been  built  up  in  the  soul,  till  it  be- 
came identified  with  personal  consciousness, 
the  whole  analogy  of  faith,  —  all,  have  been 
swept  away  by  the  overmastering  power  of 
parental  love  for  one  who,  when  he  died,  left 
his  friends  to  sorrow  as  they  that  have  no 
hope.  Now,  supposing  a  parent  to  fail  of 
heaven,  and  to  retain  his  instinctive  parental 
feelings,  the  endless  separation  between  him 
and  his  family  will  be  a  source  of  sorrow 
which  needs  only  to  be  kept  up,  by  an  ever- 
living  memory,  to  constitute  all  which  is  pic- 
tured in  the  boldest  metaphors  of  inspired 
tongues  and  pens.     A  father  in   disgrace,  or 


52  CATHARINE. 

under  ignominy,  suffers  intensely  when  he  sees 
or  thinks  of  his  children,  provided  his  natural 
sensibilities  are  not  destroyed.  A  father  pun- 
ished, hereafter,  by  his  Eedeemer  and  Judge, 
a  father  banished  from  the  company  of  heaven, 
knowing  that  his  family  are  there,  and  that  if 
his  influence  had  had  its  full  effect,  they  would 
all  have  perished  with  him,  —  or  a  father  with 
a  part  of  his  children  with  him  in  perdition, 
the  wife  and  mother  with  one  or  more  of  the 
children  in  heaven,  —  is  a  picture  of  woe 
which  nothing  but  timely  repentance  and 
faith  in  Christ  may  prevent  from  being  a 
reality  in  the  experience  of  some  who  read 
these  lines.  Can  it  be  true,  as  Bishop  Hall 
says,  that  "to  be  happy  is  not  so  sweet  a 
state  as  it  is  miserable  to  have  been  happy"? 
0  man,  if  you  have  a  child  in  heaven,  think 
that,  among  the  sweet  influences  of  divine 
love,  there  probably  is  no  more  powerful 
motive  to  draw  your  affections  towards  God, 
than  that  glimpse  which  you  sometinies  seem 
to  have  of  this  child's  face,  on  which  heaven 


MORE     THAN      CONQUEROR.  53 

has  traced  its  lineaments  of  peace  and  bliss ; 
or  that  sudden  whisper  of  a  gentle,  child-like 
voice,  now  and  then  heard  by  the  ear  of 
fancy,  persuading  you  to  be  a  Christian.  Do 
not  let  the  world,  or  shame,  or  procrasti- 
nation, lead  you  to  resist  such  efforts  of 
almighty  love  to  save  you.  He  who  has  had 
a  child  saved  by  Christ,  and  will  not  be  him- 
self a  Christian,  —  what  more  can  God  do  to 
sa^  him? 

The  breaking  up  of  our  homes  is  one  of 
the  mysteries  of  God's  providence.  The  last 
thing,  perhaps,  which  we  might  suppose 
would  be  allowed,  is,  the  removal  of  a 
mother  from  a  family  of  young  children. 
This  being  so  frequent,  we  cease  to  wonder 
at  any  other  dispensations ;  we  conclude  that 
separations  are  to  be  made,  regardless  of  any 
and  every  seeming  necessity  and  endear- 
ment. "  Sirs,  I  perceive  that  this  voyage  will 
be  with  hurt  and  much  damage,  not  only  of 
the  lading  and  ship,  but  also  of  our  lives." 
The  conviction  is  forced  upon  us  that  there  is 

6* 


54  CATHARINE. 

another  world,  for  which  we  must  make  all 
our  calculations.  "There  is  a  better  world/' 
said  the  distinguished  William  Wirt,  after  the 
death  of  his  daughter,  in  1831,  —  ^Hhere  is  a 
better  world,  of  which  I  have  thought  too 
little.  To  that  world  she  has  gone,  and  thither 
my  affections  have  followed  her.  This  was 
Heaven's  design.  I  see  and  feel  it  as  dis- 
tinctly as  if  an  angel  had  revealed  it.  I 
often  imagine  that  I  can  see  her  beckoning  me 
to  the  happy  world  to  which  she  has  gone. 
She  was  my  companion,  my  office  companion, 
my  librarian,  my  clerk.  My  papers  now  bear 
her  indorsement.  She  pursued  her  studies  in 
my  office,  by  my  side,  sat  with  me,  walked 
with  me,  was  my  inexpressibly  sweet  and 
inseparable  companion,  —  never  left  me  but  to 
go  and  sit  with  her  mother.  We  knew  all  her 
intelligence,  all  her  pure  and  delicate  sensibil- 
ity, the  quickness  and  power  of  her  percep- 
tions, her  seraphic  love.  She  was  all  love,  and 
loved  all  God's  creation,  even  the  animals, 
trees,  and   plants.     She    loved   her  God   and 


MORE    THAN    CONQUEROR.  55 

Saviour  with  an  angel's  love,  and  died  like  a 
saint."  * 

About  the  same  time,  he  writes  to  his 
wife,  — 

"  I  want  only  my  blessed  Saviour's  assurance 
of  pardon  and  acceptance  to  be  at  peace.  I 
wish  to  find  no  rest  short  of  rest  in  him. — Let 
us  both  look  up  to  that  heaven  —  where  our 
Saviour  dwells,  and  from  which  he  is  showing 
us  the  attractive  face  of  our  blessed  and 
happy  child,  and  bidding  us  prepare  to  come 
to  her,  since  she  can  no  more  visibly  come 
to  us.  I  have  no  taste  now  for  worldly  busi- 
ness. I  go  to  it  reluctantly.  I  would  keep 
company  only  with  my  Saviour  and  his  holy 
book.  I  dread  the  world,  the  strife,  and  con- 
tention, and  emulation  of  the  bar ;  yet  I  will 
do  my  duty  —  this  is  part  of  my  religion." 

In  December,  1833,  another  daughter  died ; 
but  he  writes,  -^— 

"  I  look  upon  life  as  a  drama,  bearing  the 

*  Kennedy's  Life  of  William  Wirt —  letter  to  Judge  Carr. 


56  CATHARINE. 

same  sort,  though  not  the  same  degree,  of  rela- 
tion to  eternity,  as  an  hour  spent  at  the  the- 
atre, and  the  fictions  there  exhibited  ...  do  to 
the  whole  of  real  life.  Nor  is  there  any  thing 
in  this  passing  pageant  worth  the  sorrow  that 
we  lavish  on  it.  Now,  when  my  children  or 
friends  leave  me,  or  when  I  shall  be  called  to 
leave  them,  I  consider  it  as  merely  parting  for 
the  present  visit,  to  meet  under  happier  cir- 
cumstances, when  we   shall  part  no  more."* 

^^  All  my  children,"  said  the  venerable  John 
Eliot,  of  Koxbury,  "  are  either  with  Christ  or 
in  Christ."  Happy,  happy  man!  The  little 
ones,  blighted  soon  by  the  touch  of  death, 
surely  are  with  Christ ;  "  for  of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  God."  The  cherub  boy,  and  the 
blooming,  broken  flower,  the  young  daughter, 
—  the  young  man  in  his  strength,  the  young 
maiden  in  her  beauty, —  are 'there.  As  we 
commune  together,  in  the  pages  which  follow, 

♦  Kennedy's  Life  of  William  Wirt — letter  to  Judge  Cabell. 


MORE     THAN     CONQUEROR.  57 

on  themes  touching  this  subject,  God  grant 
that  every  one  who  has  not  yet  gladdened  the 
heart  of  parent,  and  pastor,  nay,  of  that  infi- 
nite Friend,  our  Saviour,  by  the  surrender  of 
the  heart  to  God,  and  every  father  and  mother 
who  is  yet  unprepared  to  join  the  growing 
circle  of  the  family  in  heaven,  —  (^  how  grows 
in  Paradise  their  store  ! ')  —  may,  as  we  reach 
the  last  page,  find  that  with  cords  of  a  man, 
with  bands  of  love.  He  who  made  Pleiades,  and 
Arcturus  and  his  sons,  has  united  them  in 
eternal  fellowship  with  their  departed  loved 
ones,  through  faith  in  Christ.  This,  while  it 
hallows  the  remainder  of  life  with  the  rich, 
mellowed  beauty  of  the  changing  leaf,  and 
ripening  grain,  and  shortening  days,  lays  the 
foundation  of  that  perfect  happiness  for  which 
our  homes  are  intended  to  prepare  us ;  their 
joys  alluring,  their  separations  pointing,  us  to 
heaven. 


II. 

THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED. 

Tea,  and  moreover  this  full  well  know  I : 
He  that's  at  any  time  afraid  to  die 
Is  in  weak  case,  and  (whatsoe'er  he  saith) 
Hath  but  a  wavering  and  a  feeble  faith. 

Geokoe  Wither. 

Unless  we  know  the  customs  of  the  wan- 
dering shepherds  with  their  flocks,  one  verse 
in  the  twentj-third  Psalm,  so  often  quoted  in 
view  of  death,  appears  abrupt,  but  otherwise 
appropriate  and  very  beautiful  One  of  a 
flock  is  expressing  his  confidence  in  God,  his 
Shepherd:  "When  I  have  satisfied  my  hun- 
ger from  the  green  pastures,  he  makes  me  to 
lie  down  in  them ;  and  the  still,  clear  streams 
are  my  drink."  Then  a  thought  occurs 
Tvhich  appears  as  though  a  dying  man  were 
speaking,  and  not  a  sheep :  but  it  is  still  the 
language  of  a  sheep.     Keeping  this  in  mind, 

(58) 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.   59 

let  it  be  remembered  that  the  shepherds 
wandered  from  place  to  place  to  find  pas- 
ture. In  doing  so,  they  were  sometimes 
obliged  to  pass  through  dark,  lonely  valleys. 
Wild  beasts,  and  creatures  less  formidable,  but 
of  hateful  sight,  and  with  doleful  voices,  made 
it  difficult  foi^  the  flocks  to  be  led  through 
such  passages.  There  was  frequently  no  other 
way  from  one  pasturage  to  another  but 
through  these  places  of  death-shade,  or  val- 
leys of  the  shadow  of  death,  —  which  was  a 
term  to  express  any  dark  and  dismal  place. 

Now,  let  us  imagine  a  flock  reposing  in  a 
green  pasture,  and  by  the  side  of  still  waters, 
conversing  about  their  shepherd,  their  pas- 
tures, and  streams.  One  of  them  says,  "  In  the 
midst  of  all  this  peace  and  contentment, 
there  is  a  thought  which  spoils  my  com- 
fort. We  cannot  stay  here  forever;  we  are 
to  go,  presently,  beyond  the  mountains ;  they 
say  that  there  are  valleys,  in  those  regions, 
full  of  dangers.  My  expectation  is,  that  we 
shall   be   torn    to   pieces.     My  enjoyment    of 


60  CATHARINE. 

these  pastures  and  waters  is  nearly  destroyed 
by  my  forebodings  about  those  valleys." 

Another  of  the  flock  replies,  "  Have  we  not 
an  able,  faithful,  experienced  shepherd  ?  Have 
we  not  seen  his  ability  to  defend  us  in  past 
dangers?  Is  he  not  as  much  concerned  for 
our  defence  and  safety  as  ourselves?  While 
he  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want.  —  Yea, 
though  I  walk  through  those  valleys  of  death- 
shade,  I  will  fear  no  evil ;  for  he  is  with  me ; 
his  rod  and  his  staff  they  comfort  me." 

The  shepherd  carried  with  him  two  instru- 
ments —  the  staff,  for  his  own  support,  and  to 
attack  a  beast  or  robber;  and  the  crook,  or 
rod.  By  this  crook,  the  shepherd  guided  a 
sheep  in  a  dangerous  pass,  placing  the  crook 
under  the  sheep's  neck,  to  hold  him  up  and 
assist  his  steps.  When  a  sheep  was  disposed 
to  stray,  the  shepherd  could  hold  him  back 
with  his  crook.  When  the  sheep  had  fallen 
into  the  power  of  a  beast,  the  crook  assisted 
in  drawing  him  away.  A  good  sheep  loved 
the  crook  as  much  as  the  staff,  —  to  be  guided. 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.   61 

as  well  as  to  be  defended.  Both  of  the 
shepherd's  instruments  were  a  great  comfort 
to  the  sheep,  while  passing  through  a  fright- 
ful and  dangerous  valley. 

The  interpretation  usually  given  to  the 
words, "thy  rod  and  thy  staff"  —  as  though 
they  meant  '^thy  gentle  reproofs  and  thy 
severe  rebukes"  —  is  erroneous.  A  sheep 
would  hardly  tell  his  shepherd  that  his 
chastising  rod,  and  the  heavy  blows  of  his 
staff,  comforted  him.  The  meaning  is,  It  is 
a  comfort  to  me  to  feel  the  crook  of  thy 
rod  helping  me  in  trouble,  and  to  know  that 
thy  staff  is  my  defence  against  wild  beasts. 


Through  fear  of  death,  many  who  are  .truly 
the  followers  of  Christ,  are,  nevertheless,  all 
their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  On  what- 
ever mountains,  into  whatever  pastures,  and 
by  whatever  streams,  their  Shepherd  leads 
them,  they  know  that  there  is  a  valley  into 
which  they  must  go  down,  and  the  imagined 


62  CATHARINE. 

darkness  and  horrors  of  the  place  make  them 
continually  afraid. 

A  fear  of  death,  without  doubt,  is  frequently 
permitted,  as  a  means  of  religious  restraint. 
Some,  who  have  wondered  at  this  trial  all  their 
life  long,  jfind  that  its  influence  is  great  in 
keeping  them  near  to  the  Shepherd  and  Bish- 
op of  their  souls.  If  a  flock  could  reason,  no 
doubt  the  shepherd  would  make  use  of  the 
fears  of  the  sheep,  in  many  instances,  to  keep 
them  from  going  astray.  If  one  of  them  were 
inclined  to  wander,  it  would  be  natural  for  the 
shepherd  to  caution  that  sheep  against  the 
dark  valley,  warning  him  of  its  terrors,  and 
making  him  feel  how  necessary  it  would  be 
to  have  a  shepherd  there,  with  his  crook  and 
stafl!  It  may  be  that  apprehensions  with  re- 
gard to  death  are  the  most  powerful  means, 
with  some,  of  keeping  them  from  going  astray, 
and  of  holding  their  minds  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  spiritual  things. 

It  has  often  been  observed  that  those  Chris- 
tians whose  fears  of  death  were  very  great  for 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.   63 

a  large  part  of  their  life,  frequently  die  with 
triumph.  The  reality  is  not  such  as  they 
feared ;  they  found  support  and  consolation 
which  they  did  not  anticipate. 

One  of  the  most  trying  anticipations  with 
regard  to  death,  in  the  minds  of  many,  long 
before  the  event  arrives,  is,  separation  from 
those  whom  we  love.  And  yet,  there  is  prob- 
ably nothing  in  human  experience  more  re- 
markable, than  the  singular  resignation,  and 
even  cheerfulness,  with  which  some,  who  have 
had  every  thing  to  make  life  desirable,  have 
left  all  and  followed  Christ  when  he  came  to 
lead  them  through  the  valley.  The  *  young 
wife  and  mother,  in  her  dying  hours,  becomes 
the  comforter  of  her  husband  ;  she  turns  and 
looks  at  the  infant  who  is  held  up  to  receive 
her  farewell,  and  the  mother  alone  is  calm, 
sheds  no  tear,  gives  the  farewell  kiss  with  com- 
posure. "Thy  rod"  is  supporting  her;  "thy 
staff  "  is  keeping  at  bay  the  passions  and  fears 
of  the  natural  heart.  So  a  widowed  mother 
leaves  a  large  family  of  young  children,  with 


64  CATHARINE. 

a  peace  which  passes  all  understanding.  And 
the  father  of  a  dependent  family,  which  never 
could,  in  a  greater  measure,  need  a  father's 
presence,  looks  upon  them  from  his  dying 
bed,  and  says  to  them,  with  the  serenity  of 
the  patriarch,  "Behold,  I  die;  but  God  shall 
be  with  you."  Nothing  is  more  true  than  this, 
that  dying  grace  is  for  a  dying  hour ;  that  is, 
we  cannot,  in  health  and  strength,  have  the 
feelings  which  belong  to  the  hour  of  parting ; 
but  as  any  and  every  scene  and  condition,  into 
which  God  brings  his  children,  has  its  peculiar 
frames  of  mind  fitted  to  the  necessity  of  each 
case,  we  need  not  make  the  useless  effort  to 
practise  all  the  resignation,  and  experience  all 
the  comforts,  which  come  only  when  they  are 
actually  needed.  We  do  not  often  hear  the 
first  part  of  the  following  passage  quoted ;  but 
in  such  rocky  and  thorny  paths  as  we  are  often 
made  to  pass  through,  how  good  it  is  to  read  : 
'-  Thy  shoes  shall  be  iron  and  brass  ;  and  as  thy 
days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  If  God  is  our 
Shepherd,  he  will  cause  us  to  pass,  one  by  one, 


THE    FEAR    OF    DEATH    ALLEVIATED.         65 

through  the  valley  which  is  before  us,  leaving 
some  most  dear  to  us  on  the  hither  side.  Sup- 
pose that  when  a  shepherd  is  employed  in 
removing  his  flock  from  one  mountain  to  an- 
other, through  a  valley,  one  of  the  flock  should 
mourn  his  separation  from  companions,  or 
from  its  young.  The  shepherd  would  say, "  You 
cannot  all  pass  together ;  leave  your  com- 
panions and  the  young  to  me ;  I  will  restore 
them  to  you  on  the  other  side."  He  might  also 
remonstrate  and  say,  "  Am  I  not,  as  their  shep- 
herd, interested  in  protecting  and  removing 
them  ?  You  can  add  nothing  to  my  strength 
and  wisdom ;  let  me  take  you  safely  through 
the  valley,  and  trust  me  to  do  the  same  for 
them." 

The  ancient  shepherd  was  specially  carefal 
of  the  lambs ;  he  carried  them  in  his  arms,  and 
sometimes  folded  them  beneath  his  shepherd's 
coat.  We  can  imagine  the  feelings  of  some  of 
a  flock  when,  leaving  them  at  a  short  distance, 
but  within  sight,  the  shepherd  would  take  a 
lamb,  carry  it  down  into  the  valley,  and  dis- 

6* 


QQ  CATHARINE. 

appear  with  it  for  a  little  while.  With  all 
their  confidence  in  their  shepherd,  some  of  the 
flock  would  manifest  uneasiness  at  the  separa- 
tion, especially  if  the  valley  looked  dark  and 
dangerous.  If  it  were  the  only  lamb  of  its 
mother,  it  was  natural  for  that  mother  to  be 
distressed,  and  to  lament.  Though  the  young 
creature  had  gOne  safely  to  the  other  side, 
and  was  at  play  in  the  new  pasture,  and  the 
mother  believed  it,  this  could  not  always  quiet 
her.  The  good  Shepherd  has  taken  some  of 
our  lambs  through  the  valley.  They  are  safe 
upon  the  other  side.  They  have  joined  the 
flock  of  Christ.  Let  us  give  our  lambs  to 
the  Shepherd's  care,  to  bear  them  through  the 
valley,  whenever  he  sees  fit  that  they  should 
be  removed.  We  must  all  pass  through  that 
valley.  If,  from  special  love  to  our  young,  he 
will  see  them  safely  on  the  other  side  before 
he  calls  for  us,  we  will  intrust  them  to  Him 
who  claims  our  confidence  by  saying  to  us,  I 
am  the  Good  Shepherd.  One  of  the  prophe- 
cies concerning  Christ  reveals  that  tender  love 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.    67 

and  care,  on  his  part,  for  children,  which  charac- 
terized him  while  on  earth  :  "  He  shall  gather 
the  lambs  with  his  arm,  and  carry  them  in  his 
bosom." 

The  fear  of  death  is  owing,  in  many  cases, 
to  the  dread  of  dissolution. 

The  previous  sickness  prepares  the  soiil  and 
the  body  for  their  separation,  so  that,  in  very 
many  cases,  it  is  the  greatest  rehef  to  die.  We 
are,  perhaps,  mistaken  if  we  suppose  that  those 
Christians  who  are  in  great  bodily  pain  in  their 
last  hours,  suffer  in  mind.  The  effects  of  death 
on  the  frame  do  not  necessarily  disturb  the 
tranquillity  of  the  soul.  The  body  may  be  in 
spasms  while  the  soul  is  at  peace  ;  and  the  re- 
Verse  is  true ;  —  as  in  nightmare,  when  the  mind 
is  distressed  while  the  body  sleeps.  A  Christian 
has  nothing  to  fear  in  this  respect.  To  die  will 
not  be — as  in  full  health  we  suppose  it  is  —  a 
violent  rending  asunder  of  the  soul  from  the 
unyielding  grasp  of  the  body;  but  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  mortal  frame  for  dissolution,  by  the 
sickness,  however  rapid,  also  fits  the  mind  for 


bo  CATHARINE. 

the  event.     Even  in  cases  of  death  by  acci- 
dents, this  appears  to  be  true. 

But  many  feel  that  to  die  is  to  be  transferred 
suddenly,  and  with  violence,  into  strange  scenes, 
which  must  overwhelm  and  distract  the  senses. 
It  seems  to  them  that  it  must  be '  like  being 
whirled  instantly  into  a  distant,  unknown  city, 
and  waking  up  amidst  the  confusion  and  strange- 
ness of  that  place.  We  cannot  believe  that 
such  is  the  experience  of  dying  Christians.  It 
would  rather  seem  that  there  is,  at  first,  a  per- 
ception of  spiritual  forms,  of  ministering  spirits, 
whispering  peace  to  the  soul,  and  assuring  it  of 
safety,  and  bidding  it  fear  not.  It  is  said  of 
angels,  "Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits, 
sent  forth  to  minister  for  them  who  shall  be 
heirs  of  salvation  ?  "  When  can  we  need  their 
ministry  more,  than  in  the  passage  from  this 
world  to  the  world  of  spirits  ?  Perhaps  the 
disclosure  is  made  of  some  departed  friends ; 
and  the  fancy  of  those  who  thought*  that  they 
saw  beloved  ones  beckoning  them  away,  may 


THE  FEAR  OP  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.    69 

have  had  its  foundation  in  truth.  There  is 
much  of  probabiHty  in  that  well-known  piece, 
"  The  dying  Christian's  address  to  his  soul ; "  — 
and  no  part  of  it  is  more  probable  than  this: — 

««  Hark !  they  whisper ;  angels  say, 
Sister  spirit,  come  away." 

It  is  not  improbable — it  seems  accordant  with 
divine  goodness  —  that  such  methods  should 
be  employed  to  relieve  the  anxiety  of  the  de- 
parting spirit.  Sometimes  the  dying  Christian 
has  declared  that  he  heard  enrapturing  music. 
It  is  possible  that  voices  were  employed  to 
soothe  him  to  sleep,  and  to  soften  the  transi- 
tion, from  the  full  consciousness  of  life,  to  the 
revelations  of  the  heavenly  world.  Perhaps 
the  effect  of  disease  upon  the  organs  of  hearing 
was  such  as  to  produce  something  like  sounds, 
which,  in  a  joyous  state  of  mind,  were  pleas- 
urable. During  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  in 
1836,  the  wife  of  an  American  missionary  sung 
while  dissolution  was  actually  taking  place. 
The  tones  of  her  voice,  they  said,  seemingly 
more  than  mortal,  were  far  different  from  any 


70  CATHARINE. 

thing  which  they  had  ever  heard,  even  from 
her.  God  is  often  pleased  to  use  these  natural 
effects  of  dissolution  on  the  body,  to  comfort  the 
passing  spirit  of  his  child.  Whether  visions  or 
real  voices  are  actually  seen  or  heard,  is  of  no 
consequence,  so  long  as  the  soul  has  a  rational 
and  assured  hope.  Some  means  are  unques- 
tionably used  in  every  case  to  make  the  dying 
believer  feel  that  he  is  safe.  He  is  not  com- 
pelled to  wait  in  uncertainty  and  fear  for  a 
moment.  His  fears  are  anticipated ;  he  is 
among  other  friends,  the  moment  that  he  grows 
insensible  to  those  who  watch  his  departing 
breath.  Neither  are  we  to  suppose  that 
heaven  breaks  upon  the  senses  of  the  spirit 
with  such  an  overpowering  brightness,  as  to 
excite  confusion  and  pain.  No  doubt  the  reve- 
lation is  gradual  and  most  pleasant.  Perhaps 
the  celestial  city  appears  at  first  in  the  dis- 
tance, having  the  glory  of  God  most  precious ; 
the  approach  to  it  is  gradual ;  voices  are  heard 
afar  off,  and  from  the  convoy  of  ministering 
spirits,  such  information  and  instructions  are 


THE    FEAR    OP    DEATH    ALLEVIATED.         71 

received  as  prepare  it  for  the  full  vision  of 
heaven.  Every  thing  is  calm  and  serene  ;  the 
light  is  attempered  to  its  new  and  feeble 
vision.  He  who  makes  the  sun  to  rise  by  slow 
degrees^  and  does  not  pour  straight,  fierce  rays 
upon  the  waking  eyes  even  of  sinful  men,  cer- 
tainly will  not  torment  the  soul  of  his  child 
with  any  such  revelations  of  unseen  things  as 
will  give  pain.  The  same  care  which  has 
redeemed  and  saved  him,  will  order  all  these 
things  in  covenanted  love. 

Some  of  the  preceding  thoughts  are  well 
expressed  in  the  following  anonymous  lines, 
written  on  seeing  Mr.  Greenough's  group  of 
the  Angel  and  Child  ascending  to  Heaven :  — 

*«  Child.     Whither  now  wilt  thou  proceed  ? 
Angel.         Come  up  hither ;  I  will  show  thee. 
Follow  me  with  joyful  speed  ; 

Leave  thy  native  earth  below  thee. 
Child.     Stop  !  mine  eyes  cannot  contain 

Such  a  wondrous  flood  of  light. 
Angel.     Come  up  hither.     Thou  shalt  gain, 

As  thou  risest,  stronger  sight. 
Child.     Lost  in  wonder  without  end, 

Joyful,  fearful,  longing,  shrinking, 


72  CATHARINE. 

Lead  me,  O  thou  heavenly  friend  ; 

Keep  a  trembling  child  from  sinking. 
O,  I  cannot  bear  this  glory ! 

Angel  brother  !  how  canst  thou  ? 
Angel.    I  will  tell  thee  all  my  story  ; 

I  was  once  as  thou  art  now. 
Child.     When  some  sorrow  did  befall  me, 

Or  I  felt  some  strange  alarms. 
Then  my  mother's  voice  would  caU  me, 

To  the  shelter  of  her  arms. 
Now  what  bids  my  heart  rejoice, 

Clasped  in  arms  I  cannot  see  ? 
Hark,  I  hear  a  soothing  voice 

Sweetly  whispering,  Come  to  me. 
Angel.    Yes,  it  calls  thee  from  on  high  ; 

Come  to  God's  most  holy  mountain ; 
Thou  hast  drunk  the  stream  of  life ;  — 

I  will  lead  thee  to  the  fountain." 

Some  dread  the  thought  of  being  out  of  the 
body  and  finding  themselves  spirits.  This  is 
wholly  without  reason.  The  soul  will  not 
suffer  from  losing  this  body  of  sin  and  death ; 
it  will  have  as  perfect  a  consciousness,  it 
will  know  where  it  is,  and  what  is  passing  be- 
fore it,  as  seems  to  be  the  case  in  a  vivid 
dream  when  the  bodily  senses  are  locked  in 
slumber. 


THE    FEAR    OF    DEATH    ALLEVIATED.         73 

As  to  the  natural  repugnance  which  we 
have  to  the  thoughts  of  burial  and  the  grave, 
it  is  probable  that  the  soul  of  a  redeemed 
spirit  thinks  and  cares  as  little  concerning 
these  things,  so  far  as  painful  sensations  are 
concerned,  as  we  do  about  our  garments  when 
we  are  falling  asleep.  The  vesture  which  we 
formerly  wore  gives  us  no  solicitude.  It  is 
wonderful  to  hear  the  sick,  long  before  they 
die,  give  directions,  or  express  desires,  respect- 
ing their  burial.  So  far  from  thinking  of  the 
grave  as  a  melancholy  place,  no  doubt  the 
departed  spirit  will  often  think  of  it  in  the 
separate  state  with  pleasure,  as  the  place 
where  it  is  hereafter  to  receive  a  form  like 
Christ's ;  and  the  thought  of  resurrection  adds 
greatly  to  the  joys  of  heaven. 

There  is  something  still  which  affects  the 
minds  of  many  Christians  with  fear  as  they 
think  of  dying;  and  that  is,  their  appearing 
before  God.  They  cannot  imagine  the  pos- 
sibility of  seeing  him  without  distraction ;  his 


74  CATHARINE. 

infinite  majesty,  and  their  own  sense  of  unwor- 
thiness,  make  them  afraid. 

But  who  is  God  ?  Is  he  the  Christian's 
enemy  ?  Will  he  sit  like  a  king  on  his  throne, 
and  see  his  subject  come  trembling  into  his 
presence  ?  Is  this  the  God  who  loved  him  ? 
Is  this  the  Saviour  that  died  for  him  ?  Is  this 
the  Holy  Spirit  who  awakened,  converted, 
sanctified,  comforted  him,  and  promised  to  pre- 
sent him  faultless  before  the  presence  of  his 
glory  with  exceeding  joy  ?  God  will  not  have 
done  so  much  to  bring  him  to  heaven,  and, 
when  he  comes  there,  make  his  appearance 
before  his  throne  a  matter  of  fear  and  uncer- 
tainty. He  who  fell  on  the  neck  of  the  re- 
turning prodigal  and  kissed  him,  will  not  keep 
him  at  a  distance  when,  with  the  best  robe, 
and  the  ring,  and  the  shoes,  he  comes  into  his 
father's  house.  Our  first  apprehensions  of  God 
will  be  happy  beyond  our  present  comprehen- 
sion. What  an  image  have  we,  in  these  words, 
of  a  man  helping  a  child,  by  the  hand,  through 
a  dangerous  or  dark  way :   "  For  I  the  Lord 


THE  FEAR  OP  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.    75 

thy  God  will  hold  thy  right  hand,  saying  unto 
thee,  Fear  not ;  I  will  help  thee."  If  "  I  will 
be  with  thee,"  is  the  reason  which  he  himself 
assigns  why  we  should  not  be  afraid,  why 
should  we  fear  to  come  into  his  presence  ? 

As  to  a  consciousness  of  guilt,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  he  who  falls  asleep  in  Jesus,  with 
reliance  on  his  blood  and  righteousness,  will 
immediately,  at  death,  receive  such  a  conscious- 
ness of  being  purified  from  all  taint  of  sin,  as 
now  is  beyond  our  conception.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  we  shall  be  presented 
faultless  before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with 
exceeding  joy.  For  the  sake  of  Christ,  in 
whom  we  trust,  we  shall  be  received  and 
treated  as  though  we  had  never  sinned ;  we 
shall  say,  in  the  full  assurance  of  pardon, 
righteousness,  and  peace  with  God,  without 
waiting  for  the  question  to  be  asked  in  our 
behalf,  "  Who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  "  "  It  is 
Christ  that  died." 

And  if  this  be  so,  as  it  surely  is,  why  may 
not  Christians  in  this  world  before  they  die, 


76  CATHARINE. 

nay,  from  the  first  hour  of  justification  by 
faith  in  Christ,  triumph  thus  in  him  ?  Why 
should  their  remaining  sinfulness,  their  poor, 
frail,  erring  nature,  which  they  must  carry 
with  them  to  the  grave,  prevent  them  from 
having  the  same  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  also  we  have  received 
the  atonement  ?  Every  true  believer  in  Jesus 
Christ  is  warranted  in  having  the  same  con- 
sciousness of  pardon  and  peace  with  God,  now, 
as  after  death  ;  the  justifying  righteousness  of 
Christ  is  as  powerful  now  as  it  will  be  then. 
Some  tell  us,  "  Live  a  sinless  life,  and  you  may 
have  this  perfect  peace."  That  is  self-righteous- 
ness. It  will  not  be  a  sinless  life  which,  in  the 
moment  after  death,  will  make  us  to  be  openly 
acknowledged  and  acquitted ;  it  will  be  the 
righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  which  is  by  faith ; 
and  he  who  has  faith  in  that  righteousness 
may,  living  as  well  as  dying,  here  as  well  as  in 
heaven,  say, '  There  is,  therefore,  noiu  no  condem- 
nation to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who 
walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit.' 


THE    FEAR    OF    DEATH    ALLEVIATED.       77 

There  are  several  things  which  may  recon- 
cile us  to  the  thought  of  dying : 

All  the  people  of  God  since  the  creation, 
with  two  exceptions,  have  died.  Of  the  two 
who  were  excepted,  neither  of  them  was  his 
only  begotten  Son.  Those  whom  God  has 
loved  peculiarly  have  not  been  exempted  from 
the  stroke  of  death.  Shall  we  ask  exemption 
from  that  which  all  the  good  and  great  have 
suffered  ?  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  rights 
eous.  If  he  must  find  the  grave,  there  will  I 
be  buried.  We  would  not  go  to  heaven  but  in 
the  way  which  prophets,  apostles,  martyrs 
trod.  The  footsteps  of  the  flock  lead  through 
the  valley;  we  will  seek  no  other,  no  easier, 
way. 

Surely  we  should  be  willing  to  follow  our 
great  Forerunner.  He  tasted  death  for  every 
man ;  and  he  could  enter  into  his  triumph  only 
by  dying.  We  should  be  more  than  resigned 
to  follow  our  blessed  Lord  into  the  tomb. 
Christ  conquered  death  by  dying;  we  shall  be 


78  CATHARINE. 

more  than  conquerors  in  the  same  way.  If 
we  suffer  great  pain,  we  cannot  suffer  more 
than  Christ  suffered  on  our  account.  Suffer- 
ings borne  in  the  spirit  of  Christ  are  counted 
as  sufferings  borne  for  Christ.  "If  we  suffer, 
we  shall  also  reign  with  him."  "  If  so  be  that 
we  suffer  with  him,  that  we  may  be  also  glo- 
rified together." 

Death  is  a  part  of  the  penalty  of  sin.  We 
should,  therefore,  submit  to  it,  giving  up  our 
bodies  to  be  destroyed,  in  fulfilment  of  that 
sentence  which  we  have  so  justly  incurred  — 
"and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return."  He  who 
hates  sin,  and  condemns  himself  for  it,  and  is 
willing  to  have  fellowship  with  Christ  in  his 
sufferings  for  it,  as  it  is  most  graciously  repre- 
sented that  we  may,  will  bear  the  execution  of 
God's  righteous  sentence  with  a  willing  mind. 

Death  is  the  perfecting  of  our  redemption. 
It  is  the  last  act  of  redeeming  grace.  When 
the  Saviour,  who  says, "I  have  the  keys  of — 


THE    PEAR    OF    DEATH    ALLEVIATED.         79 

death/'  (i.  e.,  no  one  can  die  but  at  the  time 
and  manner  prescribed  by  me,)  takes  us  out  of 
the  world,  it  is  to  finish  the  work  of  our  per- 
sonal salvation.  All  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing it  will  be  as  deliberately  appointed,  and  as 
carefully  watched  and  directed,  as  the  first 
great  act  of  grace  towards  us  in  our  regenera- 
tion. He,  too,  who  has  provided  such  pastures 
and  streams  for  us  here,  m  removing  us  to 
living  pastures  and  to  living  streams,  will,  of 
course,  see  that  we  go  safely  through  the  val- 
ley which  must  be  passed  to  reach  them.  It 
will  not  be  a  new  thing  to  Christ  to  see  us  die. 
He  has  watched  the  dying  beds  of  millions  of 
his  friends,  he  has  had  great  experience  as  a 
Shepherd  in  bringing  them  through  the  valley. 

See  that  chamber  in  yonder  mansion,  where 
all  the  comforts,  and  some  of  the  luxuries,  of 
life,  have  contributed  to  prepare  for  some  mys- 
terious event.  The  garden  of  Eden  failed  to 
possess  such  joys  as  are  there  in  anticipation, 
and  are  soon  to  be  made  perfect.     Every  thing 


80  CATHARINE. 

seems  waiting,  with  silent  but  thrilling  interest, 
for  the  arrival  of  an  unknown  occupant.  And 
there  is  raiment  of  needle-work,  and  of  fine 
twined  linen,  and  gifts  of  cunning  device,  from 
the  looms  of  the  old  world,  and  from  graceful 
fingers  and  loving  hearts  here,  every  want 
being  anticipated,  and  some  wants  imagined, 
to  gratify  the  love  of  satisfying  them.  And 
now  God  breathes  the  breath  of  life,  and  a 
living  soul  begins  its  deathless  career,  amidst 
joys  and  thanksgivings,  which  swell  through 
the  wide  circles  of  kindred  and  acquaintance- 
ship. The  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  process  of  time, 
renews  and  sanctifies  the  soul  through  the 
blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant;  and  hav- 
ing, through  life,  walked  with  God,  the  day 
arrives  when  the  spirit  must  return  to  God 
who  gave  it.  You  saw  how  it  was  received 
here,  at  its  entrance  into  the  world.  You  have 
seen  what  the  atonement,  and  regeneration, 
and  sanctification,  and  providence,  and  grace, 
have  done  for  it,  and  with  what  accumulated 
love  the  Father  of  Spirits,  and  Redeemer,  and 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.   81 

Sanctifier,  must  regard  it.  And  now  do  we 
suppose  that  the  shroud,  and  coffin,  and  the 
funeral,  and  the  narrow  house,  and  the  dark- 
ness, and  the  solitude  and  corruption,  and  the 
whole  dreary  and  terrible  train  of  death  and 
the  grave,  are  symbols  of  its  reception  into 
heaven,  the  proper  pageantry  of  its  arrival  and 
resting  place  within  the  veil  ?  Believe  it  not ! 
If  God  prepared  in  our  hearts  such  a  welcome 
for  the  infant  stranger,  that  even  its  helpless 
feet  were  thought  of  and  cared  for,  surely 
when  those  feet,  wearied  in  the  pilgrimage  of 
the  strait  and  narrow  way,  arrive  at  heav- 
en's gate,  it  must  be,  it  is,  amidst  rejoicings 
and  ministrations  of  love  to  which  earth  has 
no  parallel.  Let  kings  and  queens  prepare  a 
royal  room  for  the  new-born  prince  :  "  In  my 
Father's  house  are  many  mansions :  if  it  were 
not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare 
a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a 
place  for  you,  I  will  come  again,  and  receive 
you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye 
may  be  also." 


82  CATHARINE. 

Could  we  look  into  that  place,  as  it  stands 
waiting  for  its  occupant  from  earth,  we  should 
behold  sights  which  would  instantly  clothe 
even  death  with  beauty,  and  make  it  seem 
now,  as  it  will  seem  then,  a  blessed  thing 
to  die. 

To  miss  of  dying  would  no  doubt  be  a 
calamity.  Dying  will  be  an  experience  to  the 
believer  which  will  be  fraught  with  inestimably 
good  things;  that  is,  the  act  of  dying,  and 
not  merely  the  being  dead.  It  is  no  doubt  as 
necessary  to  the  nature  of  the  soul,  to  its  psy- 
chology, its  soul-life,  as  the  changes  of  the 
worm,  chrysalis,  and  butterfl}^,  are  to  the  in- 
sect. And  thus,  as  in  all  other  things,  where 
sin  abounded,  grace  much  more  abounds,  and 
even  death,  like  a  cross,  is  turned  into  a  minis- 
tration of  infinite  blessing. 

It  is  not  unsuitable  for  a  dying  Christian  to 
consider,  that  he  is  compassed  about  with  a 
great  cloud  of  witnesses,  who  themselves  have 
died,   and   who    are   watching   his   departure. 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.   83 

We  ought  to  die  with  such  faith  in  Jesus, 
such  confidence  in  God,  such  confident  expec- 
tation and  hope,  that  they  will  rejoice  to  see 
us  conquer  death.  Our  last  conflict  should  be 
fought  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  company 
and  scenes  into  which  we  are  immediately  to 
pass. 

We  should  not  anxiously  seek  to  remove 
entirely  from  any  one,  in  the  course  of  his  life, 
his  fears  with  regard  to  death,  except  as  we 
may  substitute  faith  for  those  fears.  God 
probably  intends  them  now  for  the  increase  of 
faith.  Moreover,  when  the  event  of  death 
happens,  it  will  be  mingled  with  so  much 
mercy  as  to  make  the  Christian  smile  at  his 
fears.  The  exhortation  of  the  apostle  in  view 
of  his  great  discourse  of  death  and  resurrec- 
tion is  noticeable  :  "  Therefore,  my  beloved 
brethren,  be  ye  steadfast,  unmovable,  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord ;  foras- 
much as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not  in 
vain  in  the  Lord." 

There  are  cases  in  which  the  clouded  fac- 


84  CATHARINE. 

ulties^  or  delirium,  prevent  the  full  enjoyment 
of  a  peaceful,  happy  death.  Such  cases  seem 
painful  to  friends,  but  the  Shepherd  knows 
when  it  is  best  to  hide  the  face  of  a  sheep 
which  he  carries  through  the  valley,  and  that 
it  is  sometimes  better  for  the  sheep  to  pass  the 
valley  in  the  black  and  dark  night,  than  when 
daylight,  by  revealing  the  horrors  of  the  place, 
would  excite  fear.  All  this  may  safely  be  left 
to  those  hands  which  spoiled  death  of  his  sting, 
and  to  that  love  which  is  stronger  than  death. 
Wherever,  and  whenever,  and  in  whatever 
manner  we  may  die,  it  will  be  under  the  care 
and  direction  of  Him  who  will  no  more  see  us 
in  the  power  of  the  enemy,  than  a  strong 
and  faithful  shepherd  would  suffer  a  beloved 
member  of  his  flock  to  fall  into  the  power  of 
the  lion. 

The  last  lines  of  a  hymn  by  Doddridge  — 

"Then  speechless  clasp  thee  in  my  arms, 
The  antidote  of  death  " 

are  altered,  by  some  compilers,  who  substitute 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.    85 

the  word  conquer o?'  for  mttidote.  But  the  author 
saw  the  truthfulness  of  his  own  chosen  lan- 
guage, though  the  word  in  question  be  not 
convenient  for  musical  expression.  When  we 
are  already  stung  by  a  poisonous  creature,  we 
take  something  which  proves  an  antidote  to 
the  effect  of  the  sting.  This  medicine  is  not 
so  much  a  conqueror,  as  an  antidote  ;  for  the 
poison  is  not  developed.  But  the  sting  is 
inflicted,  and  before  the  poisonous  injury  is 
felt,  the  antidote  prevents  it.  These  words  of 
Christ  correspond  to  this  :  "  Yeriiy,  verily  I 
say  unto  you,  If  a  man  keep  my  saying,  he 
shall  never  see  death."  How  often  we  behold 
this  verified  !  The  spectators  "  see  death,"  in 
his  approach,  in  his  effects ;  they  weep  and 
tremble,  while  the  dear  patient  does  not  "  see  " 
it ;  for  something  else  absorbs  his  thoughts, 
fixes  his  attention  ;  he  is  stung,  indeed,  by  the 
monster;  but  Christ  is  an  antidote  to  death, 
causes  it  to  pass  by  without  inflicting  pain  upon 
the  mind,  or  in  any  way  hurting  its  victim. 
Dr.  Watts  illustrates  and  confirms  all  this  :  — 


86  CATHARINE. 

"  Jesus,  the  vision  of  thy  face 
Hath  overpowering  charms ; 
Scarce  shall  I  feel  death's  cold  embrace, 
If  Chi-ist  be  in  my  arms." 

The  piece  of  paper  which  would  suffice 
to  write  the  twenty-third  Psalm  upon  it,  would 
not  be  large  enough  for  a  common  title  deed ; 
and  yet  that  Psalm,  if  it  expresses  our  experi- 
ence, is  worth  infinitely  more  than  is  conveyed, 
or  secured,  by  all  the  registries  of  deeds  under 
the  sun.  We  are  each  of  us  to  see  a  time 
when  we  shall  feel  the  truth  of  this.  If  but 
these  first  few  words  of  the  Psalm  are  true 
in  my  case,  if  "  the  Lord  is  my  Shepherd,"  all 
the  rest  of  the  Psalm  is  a  record,  a  promise,  a 
pledge,  of  past,  present,  and  future  good. 

There  are  six  things  declared  by  Christ  to 
be  characteristic  of  the  relation  which  he  and 
his  people  sustain  to  each  other,  as  Shepherd 
and  the  sheep : 

1.  "  My  sheep  hear  my  voice ; 

2.  And  I  know  them  ; 

3.  And  they  follow  me  ; 


THE  FEAR  OF  DEATH  ALLEVIATED.    87 

4.  And  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life  ; 

5.  And  they  shall  never  perish  ; 

6.  Neither  shall  any  pluck  them  out  of 
my  hand." 

Here  we  find  directions  to  duty,  as  well  as 
promises  of  future  good. 

Since  it  is  more  important  how  we  live  than 
how  we  die,  and  since  death  is  merely  the 
arrival  at  the  end  of  a  journey,  the  beginning, 
progress,  and  history  of  the  journey  determin- 
ing what  the  arrival  is  to  be,  we  shall  do  well 
to  dismiss  our  borrowed  trouble  with  regard 
to  the  manner  of  our  departure  out  of  the 
world,  and  be  solicitous  only  with  regard  to 
the  right  discharge  of  present  duty.  We  read, 
"  Precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death 
of  his  saints."  The  death  of  every  child  of  his 
is,  with  God,  an  object  of  unspeakable  interest ; 
his  own  honor  is  concerned  in  it ;  its  influence 
on  survivors  is  of  great  importance  ;  it  will  be 
among  the  means  by  which  God  accomplishes 
several,  it  may  be  many,  purposes  of  provi- 
dence, but  especially  of  his  grace.     "No  man 


CATHARINE, 


die  til  to  himself."  Great  interests  are  involved 
in  his  death,  beyond  his  own  personal  welflire. 
Now,  if  we  have  lived  for  God,  he  will  make 
our  death  the  object  of  his  especial  care, 
and  will  honor  it  by  its  being  the  means  of 
promoting  his  glory.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
gloomy  apprehensions  as  to  dying,  we  should 
cherish  the  noble  wish  and  aim  that  Christ 
may  be  magnified  in  our  body,  whether  it  be 
by  life  or  by  death.  If  our  life  has  been  a 
walking  with  God,  "Thou  art  with  me"  will 
be  a  perfect  warrant,  now,  and  in  death,  to 

"  FEAR   NO   EVIL." 


III. 

THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED 


No  bliss  mid  worldly  crowds  is  bred, 
Like  musing  on  the  sainted  dead. 

Bishop  Mant. 


We  seek  in  vain,  on  earthy,  for  one  who  has 
gone  to  heaven.  Though  better  informed  as 
to  the  objects  of  our  love  than  they  who  lin- 
gered about  the  deserted  tomb  of  the  Saviour, 
and  were  asked,  "Why  seek  ye  the  living 
among  the  dead,"  we  nevertheless  find  our- 
selves, in  our  thoughts,  searching  for  them ; 
so  difficult  is  it  at  once  to  feel  that  they  are 
w^holly  and  forever  departed.  There  is  an 
affecting  and  beautifully  simple  illustration  of 
our  thoughts  and  feelings,  in  this  respect,  in 
the  search  which  was  made  for  Elijah  after  his 
translation.  Fifty  men  of  the  sons  of  the 
prophets  went  and  stood  to  view  afar  off,  when 

8*  (89) 


90  CATHARINE. 

Elijah  and  Elisha  stood  by  the  Jordan.  Ellsha 
returned  alone,  and  these  men  could  not  feel 
reconciled  to  the  loss  of  their  great  master. 
They  were  not  persuaded  that  he  had  gone  to 
heaven,  no  more  to  return ;  they  sought  leave 
to  seek  him,  and  to  recover  him :  "  Peradven- 
ture,"  they  said, ''  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  hath 
taken  him  up,  and  cast  him  upon  some  moun- 
tain, or  into  some  valley."  Elisha  peremp- 
torily refused  to  grant  them  leave.  They 
were  importunate  ;  and  when,  at  last,  it  would, 
perhaps,  seem  like  obstinacy  in  him,  or  like 
jealousy  of  their  superior  love  for  Elijah,  to 
forbid  the  search,  which  at  the  worst  would 
only  be  fruitless,  he  yielded.  Three  days  they 
explored  the  valleys,  ransacked  the  thickets, 
groped  in  the  caves,  traversed  hills,  followed 
imaginary  trails  and  footprints,  but  found  him 
not.  When  they  came  again  to  Elisha,  ^^  he 
said  unto  them.  Did  I  not  say  unto  you.  Go 
not?" 

We  cannot  become  accustomed  at  once,  nor 
for  a  long  tune,  to  the  absence  of  our  friend. 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.   91 

If  his  death  was  sudden,  or  if  it  took  place 
away  from  home,  or  during  our  absence,  we 
expect  to  see  him  again ;  if  a  vehicle  stops  at 
the  door,  the  heart  beats  with  an  instantaneous 
hope  which  dies  with  its  first  breath,  bringing 
over  us  a  deeper  and  stronger  refluence  of  sor- 
row. We  catch  a  sight  of  articles  familiarly 
used  by  a  departed  friend ;  they  are  identified 
with  little  passages  in  his  history,  or  with  his 
daily  life  :  is  it  possible  that  he  is  altogether 
and  forever  disconnected  from  them  ?  They 
are  the  same ;  those  perishable  things,  those 
comparatively  worthless  things,  having  m) 
value  at  all  except  as  his  use  of  them  made 
them  precious,  retain  their  shapes  and  places ; 
but  where  is  he  ?  and  must  not  he  return  and 
abide,  like  them  ? 

No,  he  is  gone  to  heaven.  The  places 
which  knew  him  shall  know  him  no  more  for- 
ever. Those  things,  which  have  an  imperish- 
able value  in  being  associated  with  his  memory, 
are,  to  him,  like  the  leaves  of  a  past  autumn 
to  a  tree  now  filled  with  blossoms.     The  men- 


92  CATHARINE. 

tion  of  every  valued  possession  once  inde- 
scribably dear  to  him,  would  awaken  but 
slight  emotions ;  even  the  recent  history  of 
the  dwelling  which  he  built  and  furnished, 
would  be  no  more  to  him  than  the  rehearsal  to 
a  grown  person  of  that  which  had  happened  to 
a  block  house,  or  card  figure,  which  amused 
his  childhood.  We  walk  and  sit  in  the  places 
identified  with  our  last  remembrances  of  the 
departed;  but  he  is  not  there;  we  hallow  the 
anniversaries  of  his  birth  and  death;  but  he 
gives  us  no  recognition;  we  read  his  letters; 
they  make  him  seem  alive ;  his  voice,  his 
smile,  his  love  are  there ;  and  when  we  have 
finished,  nature,  exhausted  with  its  weeping, 
sighs,  "  And  where  is  he  ?  " 

He  is  gone  to  heaven.  Even  the  earthly 
house  of  his  tabernacle  is  dissolved;  that  part 
of  him  which  was  all  of  which  we  were  cogni- 
zant by  our  senses,  is  no  more.  We  could  not 
recognize  it ;  to  the  earth,  out  of  which  it  was 
taken,  it  has,  by  slow  degrees,  returned,  —  as 
though  every  thing  earthly,  belonging  to  him, 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.    93 

^  must  needs  die,  and  be  as  water  spilt  on  the 
ground,  which  cannot  be  gathered  up  again.' 
We  travel  to  his  birthplace;  there  is  the  house 
where  he  was  born ;  we  meet  those  who  grew 
with  him  side  by  side ;  we  are  among  the 
scenes  which  were  most  familiar  to  him;  he 
planted  those  trees ;  he  collected  those  pic- 
tures ;  there  is  his  portrait,  he  rested  here,  he 
studied,  he  worked,  he  rejoiced,  he  wept,  in 
these  consecrated  places ;  but  did  we  go  think- 
ing to  find  him  there  ?  "  Did  I  not  say  unto 
you.  Go  not  ? " 

We  shall  surely  make  him  real  to  our 
thoughts,  if  not  to  our  senses,  where  he  lies 
buried.  But  we  may  as  well  stand  upon  the 
sea  shore,  where  we  had  the  last  look  of  a  sea- 
faring friend,  and  think  that  those  waters,  and 
those  sands,  and  that  horizon,  will  restore  him. 
They  only  serve  to  open  farther  the  path  of 
his  departure ;  they  lead  our  thoughts  away  to 
dwell  upon  him  where  we  imagine  him  to  be. 
Nowhere  does  heaven  seem  more  real  than  at 
the  grave  of  a  friend;  for  we  know  that  he 


94  CATHARINE. 

has  not  perished,  and  as  we  stand  on  that  verge 
of  all  our  fruitless  search  and  expectation,  we 
are  compelled  to  fix  him  somewhere  in  our 
thoughts ;  but  as  he  is  nowhere  behind  us,  we 
look  onward  and  upward. 

Our  desire  for  departed  friends,  however 
natural  and  innocent,  if  it  resulted  as  we 
sometimes  would  have  it,  would  prove  to  be 
unwise. 

Suppose  that  those  "  fifty  strong  men  "  had 
found  Elijah,  or  in  any  way  could  have  pre- 
vented his  translation  to  heaven.  With  exul- 
tation, they  would  have  led  him  back  across  the 
Jordan  to  the  company  of  their  friends,  amidst 
the  thanksgivings  of  the  people.  But,  alas! 
for  the  prophet  himself,  this  would  have  been 
his  loss,  even  had  it  proved  to  be  their  gain. 
The  opening  Jordan,  cleft  in  twain  by  his  rapt 
spirit,  pressing  its  way  to  the  skies,  had  re- 
turned to  its  course ;  and  now  the  fords  of  the 
river,  with  its  rocky  bed,  would  have  required 
his  laboring  feet  to  grope  their  way  back  to 
his  toil ;  or  the  arms  of  men,  instead  of  the 


THE    SEARCH    FOR    THE    DEPARTED.  95 

chariots  of  fire  and  horses  of  fire,  would  have 
borne  him  again  to  the  dull  realities  of  life ; 
and  there,  rebuking  Ahab,  and  fleeing  fVom 
Jezebel,  punishing  the  prophets  of  Baal,  and 
upbraiding  the  people  of  God  in  their  idola- 
tries, fasting  and  faint  under  junipers,  or  cover- 
ing his  face  with  his  mantle  at  the  still  small 
voice  of  the  Lord  his  God,  he  would  again 
have  prayed,  "  0  Lord  God,  take  away  my  life, 
for  I  am  no  better  than  my  fathers."  ^Let  me 
not  wait  longer  for  my  promised  translation; 
let  me  die  as  my  fathers  did ;  for  wherein  am  I 
better  than  they  ? '  So  weary  had  he  grown 
of  life.  Blind  and  weak  do  these  fifty  strong 
men  seem  to  us,  in  searching  for  this  ascended 
prophet,  this  traveller  over  the  King's  road  in 
royal  state,  one  of  the  only  two  who  might 
not  taste  of  death ;  the  companion,  in  heaven, 
of  Enoch,  with  a  body  which  fills  all  the  ran- 
somed spirits  there  with  joyful  expectation, 
because  it  is  a  pledge  and  earnest  of  "the  adop- 
tion, to  wit,  the  redemption  of  their  bodies." 
If,  amid  the  new  wonders  and  raptures  of  the 


96  CATHARINE. 

heavenly  world,  he  had  had  one  moment  to 
look  down  upon  those  "fifty  strong  men,"  as 
they  searched  for  him,  he  might  well  have 
used,  in  cheerful  irony,  something  like  his  old 
upbraidings  of  the  priests  near  Baal's  altar: 
"Search  deeper,  ye  ^strong  men,'  in  the  thickets 
and  caves ;  peradventure  I  sleep  in  the  brakes, 
and  must  be  awaked;  call,  with  your  fifty 
voices  together,  that  I  may  be  startled  from 
my  trance ;  will  ye  give  over  till  ye  bring  me 
back  to  Jericho  ?  Will  ye  search  but  three 
days  ?  Shall  I  lose  the  ^remnant  of  my  life  on 
earth  ?  " 

And  while  they  grew  weary  and  dis- 
couraged, and  concluded  that,  if  he  should  be 
found,  it  might  be  in  the  far  distant  hills  of 
Moab,  or  the  wilds  of  Philistia,  or  they  knew 
not  where,  and  went  back  with  hearts  unsatis- 
fied, and  debating  whether  he  were  yet  a 
wanderer  upon  earth,  or  whether  so  impossible 
a  thing  as  they  deemed  his  translation  to 
heaven,  without  dying,  had  taken  place,  the 
glorified  Elijah  was  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.     97 

Jacob,  with  Moses,  Joshua,  Samuel,  and  David. 
But  even  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  not 
arrayed  like  him.  There,  with  a  body  like 
unto  Christ's  own  future  glorious  body,  he  sat, 
with  but  one  compeer  —  Enoch,  and  he,  tran- 
scending all  the  hosts  of  the  redeemed  in  the 
foretasted  glories  of  the  resurrection.  Adam, 
by  whom  came  death,  sees  in  him  that  which 
he  himself  is  to  share,  when  by  one  Man,  also, 
shall  come  the  resurrection  from  the  dead. 
Abel,  whose  feet  first  trod  the  dark,  cold 
stream,  leaving  his  murdered  body  behind  him, 
beholds  with  love  and  wonder  him  who  passed 
the  river  of  death  ("that  ancient  river!")  with- 
out dying.  Even  the  Word  beholds  in  him  an 
earnest  of  his  own  incarnation,  resurrection, 
and  ascension  from  Olivet.  To-day,  our  loved 
ones  in  heaven  look  upon  him,  and  say,  as 
Peter  did  at  this  prophet's  visit  on  Tabor, 
(when  he  spoke  of  tabernacles  there — "  one  for 
Elias,")  "Master,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here." 
But  we,  like  the  '^Mty  strong  men,"  would 
find   them   and   bring  them   back;    and,  like 


98  CATHARINE. 

Peter,  would  build  tabernacles  to  retain  them. 
The  family  circle  is  gathered  together  at  some 
birthday  or  festival,  and,  perhaps,  we  long  for 
the  departed,  and  think  that  they  long  for  us ; 
and  we  would  bring  them  back,  and  place  them 
in  their  deserted  chairs.  We  are  "strons: 
men  "  in  the  power  of  grief,  and  in  our  wishes; 
but  the  search  for  Elijah  is  the  counterpart 
of  our  vain  desires  and  most  unreasonable 
sorrow. 

When  our  friends  have  gone  to  heaven,  it  is 
not  apt  to  be  heaven,  so  much  as  earthly  sor- 
row, which  fills  our  minds.  Happily,  we  have 
been  taught  to  believe,  and  we  do  generally 
believe,  that  the  souls  of  the  righteous  enter 
immediately  into  glory ;  that  their  happiness 
is  perfect,  though  not  completed ;  they  are  as 
happy  as  disembodied  spirits  can  be  ;  unspeak- 
ably happier  than  they  were  here,  but  still  not 
in  full  possession  of  those  sources  of  pleasure 
which  they  will  receive  when  their  bodies  are 
raised,  and  their  whole  natures  are  made  com- 
plete.    But  "  to  die  is  gain ;  "  it  is  "  to  depart 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.     99 

and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better;"  it  is 
entering  "  into  the  joy  of  their  Lord."  That 
dreary  thought  of  sleeping  after  death  till  the 
day  of  judgment;  the  idea  that  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  became  insensible  at  death, 
and  that  the  last  thing  which  Jacob,  for  exam- 
ple, knew,  was  Joseph's  kiss,  and  the  next 
thing  which  he  will  know  will  be  the  arch- 
angel's trump,  the  interval  of  many  thousands 
of  years  being  a  perfect  blank  in  his  existence, 
is  so  unlike  the  benevolent  order  of  God's 
providence  in  nature  and  grace,  that  it  cannot 
gain  much  credence  with  believers  in  the 
shnple  representations  of  the  Bible.  What  a 
mockery  Elijah's  translation  seems,  upon  that 
theory !  Whither  was  he  translated  ?  Did  the 
chariots  of  fire,  and  the  horses  of  fire,  convey 
him  to  a  dreamless  sleep  of  thousands  of 
years  ?  Was  that  pomp,  that  emblazonry,  all 
that  fiery  pageant,  a  deception  signifying  noth- 
ing but  that  the  greatest  of  prophets  was  to 
begin  a  stupid  slumber,  which,  this  day,  under 
a  heaven  with  not  one  redeemed  soul  in  it,  and 


100  CATHARINE. 

in  a  world  where  there  is  every  thing  to  be  done 
for  God  and  men,  holds  him,  and  every  other 
dead  saint,  in  a  useless  suspension  of  his  con- 
sciousness, and,  indeed,  for  so  many  ages,  anni- 
hilation ?  Poor  economy  in  the  dispensation  of 
overflowing  love  to  intelligent  beings, — we  say 
it  with  submission, — does  this  seem  to  be  ;  nor 
can  we  think  that,  in  the  case  of  Elijah,  it  was 
this  which  was  heralded  by  horses  and  chariots 
of  fire.  Chariots  and  horses  are  emblems  of 
flight ;  but  if  sleep  were  descending  upon  the 
hero  of  the  prophetic  age,  twilight  would  more 
appropriately  have  drawn  her  soft  veil  over 
nature,  birds  would  have  begun  their  vespers, 
clouds  would  have  put  on  their  changing,  pen- 
sive colors,  while  cadences  of  music,  breathed 
by  the  winds,  would  have  shed  lethargic  influ- 
ences into  the  scene.  Inspiration  does  not 
trifle  with  us  by  really  meaning  such  a  prepara- 
tion for  a  sleep  of  ages,  and  yet  informing  us, 
in  so  many  words,  that  "  the  Lord  would  take 
up  Elijah  into  heaven  by  a  whirlwind."  No  ; 
going  to  heaven  is  not  going  to   sleep,  and 


THE    SEARCH    FOR    THE    DEPARTED.         101 

going  to  sleep  is  not  going  to  heaven.  Sleep 
and  death  are  used  figiiratively  for  each  oth- 
er, according  to  the  laws  of  language,  which 
describes  appearances  without  regard  to  scien- 
tific truth,  as  in  speaking  of  the  sun's  rising,  for 
example,  and  the  going  down  of  the  sun ;  but 
to  fall  asleep  in  Jesus  is  to  awake  in  heaven ; 
to  be  absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  present 
with  the  Lord.  This  we  all  believe  ;  and  may 
we  never  be  moved  away  from  this  cheering, 
animating  hope.  Yet  how  little  power  has  this 
belief  and  hope  upon  our  feelings  and  con- 
duct! for  our  Christian  graces  partake  of  the 
same  imperfection  which  characterizes  our 
whole  nature  ;  the  soil  is  poor  in  wdiich  they 
grow ;  the  seasons  are  short,  the  climate  cold ; 
they  do  not  reach  maturity.  It  is  instructive 
to  notice  how  men  who  have  had  the  very  best 
advantages,  and  the  greatest  knowledge,  arc, 
nevertheless,  prone  to  unbelief  Christ  ap- 
peared to  his  disciples,  and  upbraided  them 
because  they  believed  not  them  which  said  he 
was  risen.     Their  incredulity  strikes  us  as  mar- 


102  CATHARINE. 

velloiis.  They  were  not  the  first,  nor  the  last, 
whose  want  of  faith  is  a  marvel.  These  sons 
of  the  prophets  in  Elisha's  day  were  equally 
slow  to  believe.  They  themselves  had  said  to 
him,  "Knowest  thou  that  the  Lord  will  take 
away  thy  master  from  thy  head  to-day  ? "  Elisha 
came  back  to  them  from  the  scene  of  the 
translation.  Of  course  he  told  them  what  had 
happened,  describing  minutely  the  whole  of 
that  preternatural  scene ;  he  probably  related 
the  conversation  which  Elijah  had  with  him  as 
they  walked ;  and  this  inspired  companion  of 
the  departed  prophet,  having  himself  no  doubt 
that  Elijah  had  gone  to  heaven,  so  instructed 
these  sons  of  the  prophets.  But  how  hard  it 
is  for  the  things  which  are  unseen  and  eternal 
to  seize  and  hold  our  minds !  how  readily  we 
yield  to  surmises,  rather  than  admit  the  clear 
disclosures  of  spiritual  things !  Straightway 
these  sons  of  the  prophets,  who  should  have 
retired  each  to  his  secret  place,  for  contempla- 
tion and  prayer,  and,  in  the  solemn  assembly, 
should   have   directed   the   thoughts   of  each 


THE    SEARCH    FOR    THE    DEPARTED.        103 

Other  and  of  the  people  to  the  instructive 
lessons  suggested  by  the  departure  of  Elijah 
to  heaven,  were  making  up  an  exploring  par- 
ty, to  prove  that  their  illustrious  chief  had 
met  with  some  disaster  in  being  left  forlorn 
upon  some  mountain,  or  in  a  valley ;  that  the 
spirit  of  God  had  entranced  him,  and  that  his 
weary  feet,  instead  of  treading  the  pavement 
of  heaven,  were  ensnared  in  some  dark  place ; 
and  so,  in  pity  for  him,  and  with  filial  love, 
they  would  seek  him,  and  bring  him  back  to 
Jericho  ! 

If  we  had  clear  and  strong  faith,  our  joy 
at  the  thought  of  a  glorified  spirit,  however 
necessary  its  presence  to  us  here,  w^ould  tran- 
scend all  our  sorrows;  the.  streaming  beams 
of  sunshine  would  irradiate  our  weeping;  we 
should  think  more  of  his  happiness  than  of 
our  discomfort.  Instead  of  departed  spirits 
falling  asleep,  it  is  we  who  have  a  spirit  of 
slumber.  0  that  we  might  walk  by  faith  with 
glorified  spirits  before  the  throne,  instead  of 
remanding  them,  —  as  it  seems  we  sometimes 


104  CATHARINE. 

would  do,  if  we  could, —  to  the  ignorance  and 
infirmity  of  our  condition.  " 

Our  feelings  towards  the  departed  are  the 
same  as  towards  other  prohibited  things.  Many 
are  continually  seeking  for  pleasures  which 
God  has  taken  away,  or  is  purposely  with- 
holding from  them.  Let  any  one  look  at  the 
history  of  his  feelings,  and  see  if  his  state  of 
mind  be  not  one  of  perpetual  expectation  of 
some  form  of  happiness  yet  to  arrive ;  an  ideal 
of  bliss,  some  prefigured  condition,  in  w^hich 
contentment  and  peace  are  to  abide ;  w^hile 
the  discovery  that  he  is  not  to  have  it,  w^ould 
make  him  inconsolably  miserable.  Our  search 
for  lost  joys,  or  for  those  which  God  is  not 
prepared,  or  not  disposed,  to  give  us,  and  the 
happiness  which  he  desires  rather  to  give  us, 
and  to  have  us  seek,  are  severally  represented 
to  us  by  this  search  for  Elijah,  and  by  Elijah 
himself,  who  is,  meanwhile,  at  God's  right 
hand.  At  his  right  hand  are  pleasures  forever- 
more;  but  some,  in  the  ardor  and  strength 
of  their  affections,  are  seeking  for  that  which 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.    105 

they  will  never  obtain,  and  that  is,  happiness 
independent  of  God.  Some  tell  us  that  they 
mean  to  make  the  most  of  life,  and  to  be 
happy  while  they  live ;  therefore,  begone,  re- 
flection! religion  is  not  for  the  spring-tide  of 
youth;  mirth  and  merry  days  are  for  the 
young;  soberness  and  the  russet  garb  of  au- 
tumn belong  to  the  decline  of  life,  which 
certainly  to  them,  they  think,  is  far  off;  —  as 
though  every  material  necessary  for  their  last, 
long  sleep,  may  not  at  this  moment  be  in  the 
warerooms  and  shops;  as  though  they  could 
boast  themselves  even  of  one  to-morrow,  and 
knew  what  the  to-morrows  of  many  years 
would  bring  forth.  The  Bible  is  against  their 
way  of  thinking  and  manner  of  life ;  and  to 
push  aside  the  Bible  in  our  search  after  any 
thing,  is  a  certain  sign  of  being  in  the  WTong. 
And  all  this  with  the  mistaken  belief  that  to 
love  God,  and  to  be  loved  of  him,  is  not  the 
greatest,  the  only  satisfying  good,  —  the  God 
that  framed  the  voice  for  that  music  which 
charms   a   circle   of  friends,  and   made   those 


lOG  CATHARINE. 

curious  fingers,  and  gave  them  all  that  cunning 
skill  which  sheds  delight  on  others,  and  em- 
powered that  heart  to  swell  with  such  con- 
ceptions of  earthly  pleasure ;  —  and  that  to  love 
him,  and  be  loved  by  him,  is  the  direst  neces- 
sity of  our  being,  to  be  postponed  as  long  as 
possible,  and  then  to  be  accepted  as  a  last 
resort  and  the  less  of  two  evils.  Where  is 
the  Lord  God  of  Elijah,  the  God  of  all  power 
and  might,  the  God  of  all  grace  and  consola- 
tion, the  God  of  our  life,  and  the  length  of  our 
days  ?  Banished  from  the  world  which  these 
friends  have  made  for  themselves;  an  in- 
truder into  the  charmed  circle  in  w^hich  the 
wand  of  fancy  has  enclosed  them ;  a  dreaded 
power  standing  over  them,  to  snatch  away  the 
only  bliss  which  they  ever  expect  to  enjoy. 
0  gilded  butterflies,  made  for  a  few  days  of 
sunshine,  and  doomed  to  perish  at  the  first 
touch  of  frost !  had  they  no  souls ;  were  there 
no  hereafter,  no  heaven,  no  hell ;  if  it  would 
not  be  as  desirable  to  be  happy  millions  of 
years  from  to-day,  as  now;  if  they  were  not 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.   107 

including  all  their  hopes  and  efforts  to  be 
happy  within  a  handbreadth  of  time,  and  lia- 
ble to  lose  even  that,  —  the  wise  man  might 
stop  with  saying,  "Rejoice,  0  young  man,  in 
thy  youth ;  and  let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the 
days  of  thy  youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of 
thine  heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes ; " 
but  the  infinite  future  compels  him  to  add, 
"  but  know  thou,  that  for  all  these  things 
God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment."  Such 
are  the  motives  by  which,  in  their  present 
condition,  and  with  their  present  views,  they 
are  most  likely  to  be  affected;  yet  some  of 
them,  we  are  glad  to  say,  in  their  best  moods, 
are  also  affected  and  influenced  aright  when 
we  tell  them  that,  even  if  our  existence  ter- 
minated at  death,  the  joys  which  are  now  to 
be  found  in  loving  and  serving  God,  are  better 
than  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season. 

There  is  not  one  of  us  who  has  not  lost  a 
friend,  a  schoolmate,  a  companion  of  early  life, 
one  who  has  disappeared  from  our  side,  a  fre- 
quent associate  in  the  business  of  life,  or  one 


108  CATHARINE. 

whom  we  have  been  accustomed  to  see  in  the 
places  of  business ;  and  perhaps  a  member  of 
our  family  circle. 

Now,  it  is  profitable  to  consider  that  the 
same  thoughts  which  we  have  of  them,  others 
will  ere  long  have  concerning  us.  What  would 
make  us  satisfied  and  happy  to  know  respect- 
ing them  ?  What  are  we  glad  to  say  of  their 
preparation  for  an  eternal  state  ?  What,  would 
we  have  had  that  preparation  be  ?  In  what 
respects  better  or  different  ?  Where  do  we 
love  to  assign  them  their  places  ?  And  what  is 
it  pleasant  to  believe  are  their  thoughts  of  us, 
of  earth,  of  eternity,  of  the  gospel,  of  this  life 
as  a  season  of  preparation  for  heaven  ?  We 
shall  soon  be  the  subjects  of  the  same  contem- 
plations in  the  minds  of  others.  The  hosts  of 
that  long  procession,  of  which  we  are  the  part 
now  passing  over  the  stage,  are  urging  and 
pressing  us  from  behind,  and  we  must  go  down, 
as  others  have  before  us,  —  our  love,  our  envy, 
our  hatred  perish,  —  and  we  no  more  have  any 
portion  in  all  that  is  done  under  the  sun. 


THE    SEARCH    FOR    THE    DEPARTED.        109 

We  must  give  up  happiness  as  the  great 
aim  and  end  of  existence,  and,  instead  of  it, 
take  this  for  our  supreme  endeavor  and  chief 
end  —  the  conscientious  performance  of  our 
duty  to  God,  and  to  others.  We  ar^  never 
really  happy  till  we  cease  to  expect  happiness 
from  the  things  of  this  world.  As  soon  as  we 
begin  to  be  satisfied  with  God,  and  find  that 
to  think  of  God,  to  love  him,  to  trust  in  him, 
to  serve  him,  is  happiness  enough,  we  attain 
to  solid  peace ;  and  then,  turning  and  following 
the  sun,  all  desirable  pleasure  pursues  us  and 
solicits  us,  like  our  shadows,  the  more  eagerly 
and  steadily  the  more  that  we  flee  from  them, 
and  the  less  that  we  turn  ourselves  to  them. 
We  never  can  be  happy  by  searching  for 
happiness  ;  but  when  we  give  up  this  search, 
and  duty  becomes  the  motto  of  life,  we  are 
inevitably  happy.  God  must  satisfy  us  —  his 
personal  love  to  us,  communion  with  him, 
the  contemplation  of  his  character,  ways,  and 
works ;  in  short,  the  consciousness  of  hav- 
ing him  for  a  personal  friend,  disclosing  all 

10 


110  CATHARINE. 

our  thoughts  to  him,  looking  to  him  and  wait- 
ing for  him  in  all  things,  and,  as  the  Bible 
expresses  it,  "walking"  with  him.  Then  he 
makes  our  wants  his  care  ;  and  while  he  leads 
us  through  strange  paths  which  we  should  not 
have  chosen,  it  is  to  bring  us,  at  the  last,  into 
a  condition  which  will  make  us  happy  chiefly 
from  the  reflection  that  God  himself  appointed 
it.  Disappointments,  of  which  we  were  fore- 
warned, and  which  we  had  every  reason  to 
expect,  embitter  that  life  whose  only  sources 
of  happiness  are  confined  to  this  world,  and  do 
not  relate  to  God,  Making  him  the  supreme 
source  of  our  happiness,  we  give  up  undue 
sorrow  for  departed  friends,  feeling  that  they 
are  removed  from  all  need  of  our  commiser- 
ation, and  all  power  to  aflford  us  comfort  and 
help,  any  further  than  their  example  and  re- 
membered words  instruct  us.  We  shall  then 
be  chiefly  concerned  to  know  and  to  do  the 
will  of  God,  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  our 
souls,  preparing  for  life,  with  its  important 
duties,  and  storing  up  those  recollections  which 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.   Ill 

are  to  occupy  our  thoughts  in  the  review  of 
life  beyond  the  grave.  We  shall  bear  in  mind 
that  we,  too,  are  to  have  survivors,  to  whom  it 
will  be  the  greatest  favor  if  we  leave  a  good 
assurance,  based  upon  their  remembrance  of 
our  piety,  that  we  are  happy,  thus  constraining 
them  to  follow  us  to  heaven.  We  shall  do 
well  if  we  habitually  say,  as  Elijah  said  to 
Elisha,  "  The  Lord  hath  sent  me  to  Jordan ; " 
and  that  we  are  one  day  to  be  taken  up  and 
conveyed  to  that  same  heaven  whither  Elijah 
went,  and  from  which  he  came  to  meet  Christ, 
and  to  speak  with  him  of  his  decease,  which 
he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem.  What 
if  we  knew  that  some  day,  not  far  distant, 
flaming  chariots- and  horses,  over  our  dwelling, 
would  wait  to  bring  us  home  to  God  ?  The 
ministering  spirits  are  already  designated  who 
are  to  perform  this  office  for  those  who  are 
heirs  of  salvation.  What,  then,  are  we  search- 
ing for  among  the  dark,  gloomy  valleys  of 
sorrow,  or  on  the  hills  of  earthly  vision  ?  If 
our  friends  are  with  Christ,  we  must  be  pre- 


112  CATHARINE. 

pared  to  be  with  him,  or  lose  their  society ; 
and  that  loss  will  be  worse  than  the  first. 

Sometimes  we  feel  as  though  we  were  sail- 
ing away  from  our  departed  friends,  leaving 
them  behind  us.  Not  so;  we  are  sailing 
towards  them ;  they  went  forward,  and  we  are 
nearer  to  them  now  than  yesterday ;  and  the 
night  is  far  spent ;  the  day  is  at  hand.  If  life, 
or  any  undue  portion,  be  spent  in  grief  which 
unfits  us  for  duty,  we  shall  see,  in  heaven,  how 
much  better  it  would  have  been  had  we  had 
more  faith,  and  had  lived  more  as  then  we 
should  desire  our  surviving  friends  to  live, 
quickened  and  strengthened  by  the  assured 
hope  of  our  being  in  heaven,  and  by  the  ex- 
pectation of  meeting  us  there.  . 

But  there  is  one  kind  of  sorrow  and  desire 
for  departed  friends  which,  in  its  consequences, 
is  greatly  to  be  deplored.  Some  refuse  to  be- 
come decided  Christians,  because  their  friends, 
they  think,  were  not  believers  in  the  faith 
which  these  surviving  friends  are  -now  per- 
suaded is  the  truth.     To  embrace  this  truth,  as 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.    113 

essential  to  salvation,  it  is  felt,  will  be  to  con- 
demn these  departed  friends ;  and  some  have, 
in  so  many  words,  declared  that  they  preferred 
to  share  the  fate  of  their  companions,  or  chil- 
dren, who  gave  no  evidence  of  having  accepted 
the  gospel,  as  it  is  now  viewed  by  these  sur- 
vivors. 

How  sad  would  be  such  a  catastrophe  as 
this :  The  departed  friend,  in  the  secret  exer- 
cises of  his  mind,  and  by  the  good  Spirit  of 
God,  may  have  been,  at  the  last  hour,  pre- 
vailed upon  to  accept  the  offers  of  salvation 
by  a  crucified  Eedeemer.  He  gave  no  in- 
timation of  this,  owing,  perhaps,  to  bodily 
weakness,  or  to  fear  and  distrust ;  but,  through 
infinite  mercy,  he  was  saved  by  faith  in 
the  Lamb  of  God.  The  surviving  friend,  per- 
suaded of  the  truth,  refuses  to  comply  with 
it,  and  loves  the  departed  friend  more  than 
Christ,  or  truth  and  duty ;  and  then,  dying, 
finds  that  the  departed  friend  is  saved,  through 
that  very  faith,  which  the  other  refused  from 
idolatrous   attachment  to  the  departed ;   and 

10* 


114  CATHARINE. 

now  they  are  separated;  whereas,  had  the 
survivor  forsaken  all  for  Christ  and  the  truth, 
he  would  have  had  a  hundred  fold  in  this  world, 
and,  in  the  world  to  come,  would  have  found 
that  friend  whom  he  would,  as  it  were,  have 
forsaken  for  Christ's  sake  and  the  gospel's.  It 
is  safe,  it  is  best,  for  each  of  us  to  do  his  duty,  to 
walk  by  the  light  afforded  us,  and  not  to  make 
a  creature  our  standard,  nor  our  chief  good. 

If  we  meet  certain  of  our  friends  at  the  end 
of  their  search  after  pleasure,  having  forgotten 
their  God  and  Saviour,  and  see  them  disap- 
pointed, and  utterly  destitute  of  any  thing  to 
make  them  happy  forever,  and  all  because  they 
would  not  forego  their  chase  after  unsatisfying 
pleasure, — there  is  many  a  faithful  Christian 
friend,  whose  example  and  advice  they  disre- 
garded, who  could  then  reply,  "  Did  I  not  say 
unto  you.  Go  not  ?  " 

In  the  name  of  some  unspeakably  dear  to 
you,  we  say,  "We  are  journeying  unto  the 
place  of  which  the  Lord  said,  I  will  give  it 
you  J  come  thou  with  UkS,  and  we  will  do  thee 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  DEPARTED.   115 

good ;  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  good  concern- 
ing Israel." 

Our  friends,  who  have  gone  to  heaven,  ought 
not  to  be  invested,  in  our  thoughts,  with  such 
melancholy  associations  as  we  are  prone  to 
connect  with  them.  To  die  is  gain.  Trouble, 
and  sorrow,  and  the  dark  river,  interpose  be- 
tween us  and  heaven;  but  in  the  prospect 
which  has  opened  before  the  eye  of  the  re- 
deemed spirit,  there  is  nothing  but  widening 
and  brightening  glory.  We  must  not  seek  for 
consolation  at  their  departure  by  bringing  them 
back,  in  our  thoughts,  to  our  dwellings,  but 
by  going  forward,  in  faith,  ourselves,  to  their 
dwelling.  There  is  much  to  encourage  and 
help  us  in  doing  so,  in  the  following  lines, 
which  may  be  read  with  profit  upon  each  anni- 
versary of  a  friend's  departure  to  heaven,  until 
surviving  friends  read  them  at  the  returning 
anniversaries  of  our  own  entrance  into  the  joy 
of  our  Lord: — 


116  CATHARINE 


"A  Year  ix  Heaven. 

A  YEAR  UN  CALENDARED  ;    for  what 

Hast  thou  to  do  with  mortal  time  ? 
Its  dole  of  moments  entereth  not 

That  circle,  mystic  and  sublime, 
Whose  unreached  centre  is  the  throne 

Of  Him,  before  whose  awful  brow, 
Meeting  eternities  are  known 

As  but  an  everlasting  now. 
The  thought  removes  thee  far  away,  — 

Too  far,  —  beyond  my  love  and  tears  ; 
Ah,  let  me  hold  thee,  as  I  may ; 

And  count  thy  time  by  earthly  years. 

A  YEAR  OF  BLESSEDNESS  ;  wherein 

Not  one  dim  cloud  hath  crossed  thy  soul ; 
No  sigh  of  grief,  no  touch  of  sin, 

No  frail  mortality's  control ; 
Nor  once  hath  disappointment  stung, 

Nor  care,  world-weary,  made  thee  pine  ; 
But  rapture,  such  as  human  tongue 

Hath  found  no  language  for,  is  thine. 
Made  perfect  at  thy  passing,  who 

Can  sum  thy  added  glory  now  ? 
As  on,  and  onward,  upward,  through 

The  angel  ranks  that  lowly  bow, 
Ascending  still  from  height  to  height 

Unfaltering,  where  rapt  spirits  trod, 
Nor  pausing  'mid  their  circles  bright. 

Thou  tendest  inward  unto  God. 


THE    SEARCH    FOR    THE    DEPARTED.        117 

A  YEAR  OF  PROGRESS,  in  the  love 

That's  only  learned  in  heaven ;  thy  mind 
TJnClogged  of  clay,  and  free  to  soar, 

Hath  left  the  realms  of  doubt  behind, 
And  wondrous  things  which  finite  thought 

In  vain  essayed  to  solve,  appear 
To  thy  untasked  inquiries,  fraught 

With  explanation  strangely  clear. 
Thy  reason  owns  no  forced  control, 

As  held  it  here  in  needful  thrall ; 
God's  mysteries  court  thy  questioning  soul, 

And  thou  may'st  search  and  know  them  all. 

A  YEAR  OF  LOVE  ;  thy  yearning  heart 

Was  always  tender,  e'en  to  tears. 
With  sympathies,  whose  sacred  art 

Made  holy  all  thy  cherished  years  ; 
But  love,  whose  speechless  ecstasy 

Had  overborne  the  finite,  now 
Throbs  through  thy  being,  pure  and  free, 

And  burns  upon  thy  radiant  brow. 
For  thou  those  hands'  dear  clasp  hast  felt. 

Where  still  the  nail-prints  are  displayed  ;« 
And  thou  before  that  face  hast  knelt. 

Which  wears  the  scars  the  thorns  have  made. 

A  YEAR  WITHOUT  THEE  ;  I  had  thought 
My  orphaned  heart  would  break  and  die. 

Ere  time  had  meek  quiescence  brought, 
Or  soothed  the  tears  it  could  not  dry ; 


118  CATHARINE. 

And  yet  I  live,  to  faint  and  quail 

Before  the  human  grief  I  bear  ; 
To  miss  thee  so,  then  drown  the  wail 

That  trembles  on  my  lips  in  prayer. 
Thou  praising,  while  I  vainly  thrill ; 

Thou  glorying,  while  I  weakly  pine  ; 

And  thus  between  thy  heart  and  mine 
The  distance  ever  widening  still. 

A  YEAR  OF  TEARS  TO  ME  ;    tO  thOG 

The  end  of  thy  probation's  strife, 
The  archway  to  eternity, 

The  portal  of  immortal  life  ; 
To  me  the  pall,  the  bier,  the  sod ; 

To  thee  the  palm  of  victory  given. 
Enough,  my  heart ;  thank  God  !  thank  God  ! 

That  thou  hast  been  a  year  in  heaven. 


IV. 

THE  SILENCE  OF  THE  DEAD. 

Dear,  beauteous  Death,  the  jewel  of  the  just, 

Shining  nowhere  but  in  the  dark, 
What  mysteries  do  lie  beyond  thy  dust, 

Could  men  outlook  that  mark  I 
He  that  hath  found  some  fledged  bird's  nest,  may  know, 

At  first  sight,  if  the  bird  be  flown  ; 
But  what  fair  field,  or  grove,  he  sings  in  now. 

That  is  to  him  unknown. 

Hknky  Vaughaw. 

The  silence  of  the  dead  is  one  of  the  most 
impressive  and  affecting  things  connected  with 
the  separate  state  of  the  soul.  We  hear  the 
voice  of  a  dying  friend,  in  some  last  wish,  or 
charge,  or  prayer,  or  farewell,  or  in  some  ex- 
clamation of  joy  or  hope ;  and  though  years 
are  multiplied  over  the  dead,  that  voice  returns 
no  more  in  any  moment  of  day  or  night,  of 
joy  or  sorrow,  of  labor  or  rest;  in  life  or  in 
death. 

(119) 


120  CATHARINE. 

The  voices  of  creation  return  to  us  at  peri- 
odical seasons.  The  early  spring  bird  startles 
us  with  her  unexpected  note ;  the  winter  is 
over  and  gone.  But  no  periodical  change 
brings  back  the  voices  of  departed  friends.  A 
member  of  the  family  embarks  on  a  long  voy- 
age ;  but,  be  it  ever  so  long,  if  life  is  spared, 
the  letter  is  received,  in  which  the  written 
words,  so  characteristic  of  him,  recall  his  looks 
and  the  tones  of  his  voice.  Years  pass  away, 
and  the  sound  of  his  footsteps  is  at  the  door 
again,  and  his  voice  is  heard  in  the  dwelling. 
But  of  the  dead  there  comes  no  news;  from 
the  grave  no  voice,  from  the  separate  state  no 
message.  With  our  desire  to  speak  once  more 
to  the  departed,  and  to  hear  them  speak,  we 
feel  that  they  must  have  an  intense  desire  to 
speak  to  us.  We  wonder  why  they  do  not 
break  the  silence.  There  is  so  much  of  which 
they  could  inform  us ;  it  would  be  such  a  relief, 
we  think,  to  have  one  word  from  them, 
assuring  us  that  they  arrived  safely,  and  are 
happy,  and,  above  all  things,  granting  us  their 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  121 

forgiveness  for  the  sins  which  now  have  awa- 
kened sorrow.  But  we  wait,  and  look,  and 
wonder,  in  vain. 

When  we  think  of  the  number  of  the  dead, 
this  silence  appears  impressive.  Their  number 
far  exceeds  that  of  the  living.  Could  they  be 
assembled  together,  and  could  those  now  alive 
be  set  over  against  them,  upon  an  immense 
plain,  to  a  spectator  from  above  we  should  be 
a  small  company  in  comparison  with  them. 
Should  they  lift  up  their  voices  together,  ours 
could  not  be  heard.  Yet  from  that  vast  mul- 
titude we  never  hear  a  voice,  —  not  even  a 
whisper,  —  nor  see  a  sign.  Standing  in  a  cem- 
etery a  few  miles  distant  from  the  great  city, 
you  hear  the  low,  muffled  roar  from  the  streets 
and  bridges,  reminding  you  of  the  living  tide 
which  is  coursing  along  those  highways.  But 
with  eight  thousand  of  the  dead  around  you 
in  that  cemetery,  and  a  world  of  spirits,  which 
no  man  can  number,  just  within  the  veil,  you 
hear  nothing  from  them.  No  one  comes  back 
to  tell  us  of  his  experience ;  no  warning,  nor 


122  CATHARINE. 

comfortj  nor  counsel,  ever  reaches  our  ears. 
Whatever  our  trouble,  or  our  joy  may  be,  our 
need  or  prosperity ;  however  long  and  painful 
the  absence  of  the  departed  may  have  been ; 
however  lonely  we  may  feel,  wishing  for  some 
word  of  remembrance  and  love ;  and  though 
we  visit  the  grave  day  by  day,  and  call  on  the 
name  of  the  departed,  and  use  every  art  of 
endearment  to  pierce  the  veil  between  us, 
—  there  is  the  same  determined,  cold,  lasting 
silence.  "  To  go  down  into  silence "  is  a  scrip- 
tural phrase  for  the  state  of  the  dead. 

Our  feelings  seek  relief  from  those  vague, 
uncertain  thoughts  respecting  the  dead  which 
we  find  occasioned  by  the  gentle  manner  in 
which  death  most  frequently  occurs.  The 
breath  is  shorter  and  shorter,  and  finally  ceases, 
yet  so  imperceptibly,  that,  for  a  moment,  it  is 
uncertain  whether  the  last  breath  has  expired. 
There  is  no  visible  trace  of  the  outgoing  of 
the  soul.  Could  we  see  the  spirit  leave  the 
body,  w^e  should  feel  that  one  of  the  mysteries 
of  death  is  solved.     Could  we  trace  its  flight 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  123 

into  the  air,  could  we  watch  its  form  as  it 
disappeared  among  the  clouds,  or  melted  away 
in  a  distance  greater  than  the  eye  can  com- 
prehend, we  should  not,  perhaps,  ask  for  a 
word  to  assure  us  respecting  the  state  of  the 
soul.  But  there  is  no  more  perfect  delinea- 
tion of  the  appearances  which  death  presents 
to  us,  than  in  the  following  inspired  descrip- 
tion :  "  As  the  waters  fail  from  the  sea,  and 
the  flood  decayeth  and  drieth  up,  so  man  lieth 
down  and  riseth  not;  till  the  heavens  be  no 
more,  they  shall  not  awake,  nor  be  raised  out 
of  their  sleep."  We  see  the  lying  down,  the 
fixedness  of  the  posture,  the  utter  disregard, 
in  the  cold  remains,  of  every  thing  which 
passes  before  them ;  and  these  remains  are 
like  the  channels  of  a  river,  or  the  flats  of  the 
sea,  when  the  tide  has  utterly  forsaken  them. 
The  soul  is  like  those  vanished  waters,  as  to 
any  manifestation  that  it  continues  to  exist. 

We  miss  the  departed  from  his  accustomed 
places;  we  expect  to  meet  him  at  certain 
hours  of  the  day;  those  hours  return,  and  he 


124  CATHARINE. 

is  not  there ;  we  start  as  we  look  upon  his 
vacant  place  at  the  table,  or  around  the  even- 
ing lamp,  'or  in  the  circle  at  prayers.  No 
tongue  can  describe  that  blank,  that  chasm, 
which  is  made  by  death  in  the  family  circle, 
or  the  variations  in  the  tones  of  sorrow  and 
desire  with  which  those  words  are  secretly 
repeated,  day  after  day,  and  night  after  night : 
"  And  where  is  he  ?  " 

Is  there  any  assignable  cause  for  the  silence 
of  the  dead  ? 

We  cannot,  with  certainty,  assign  the  rea- 
son for  it,  and  we  do  not  know  why  the  dead 
are  not  suffered  to  reappear  to  us.  We  can, 
nevertheless,  see  great  wisdom  and  use  in  this 
silence,  and  in  our  perfect  ignorance  respecting 
their  state. 

It  is  the  arrangement  of  divine  Providence  that 
faith,  and  not  sight,  shall  influence  our  characters 
and  conduct. — It  would  be  inconsistent  with 
this  great  law  if  we  should  see  or  hear  from 
the  dead. 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  125 

The  object  of  God,  in  his  dealings  with  us,  is 
to  exalt  the  Bible  as  our  instructor.  If  men 
were  left  to  visions  and  voices,  in  which  there 
is  so  much  room  for  mistake  and  delusion,  the 
confusion  of  human  affairs  would  be  inde- 
scribably dreadful.  Every  man  would  have  his 
vision,  or  his  message,  the  proof,  or  the  correctr 
ness,  of  which  would  necessarily  be  concealed 
from  others,  who  might  have  contrary  direc- 
tions, or  impressions;  and  human  affairs  would 
then  be  like  a  sea,  in  which  many  rivers  ran 
across  each  other. 

It  would  not  be  safe  for  departed  spirits  to 
be  intrusted  with  the  power  of  communicating 
with  the  living.  Though  they  know  far  more 
than  we,  yet  their  information  is  limited ;  and, 
especially,  if  they  should  undertake  to  coulisel 
us  about  the  future,  as  they  would  do  in  their 
earnestness  to  help  us,  we  can  easily  see  that, 
being  finite  as  they  are,  and  unable  to  look  into 
the  future,  they  might  involve  us  in  serious 
mistakes,  either  by  their  ignorance,  or  by  the 
contrariety  of  their  information.     Far  better  is 


126  CATHARINE. 

it  for  man  to  look  only  to  God,  who  sees  the 
end  from  the  beginning,  with  whom  is  no  va- 
riableness, and  who  is  able,  as  our  anxious 
friends  would  not  be,  to  conceal  from  us  the 
future,  or  any  information  respecting  it,  which 
it  would  be  an  injury  for  us  to  know.  Should 
we  be  informed  of  certain  things  which  will 
happen  to  us  years  hence,  either  the  expecta- 
tion of  them  would  engross  our  attention,  and 
hinder  our  usefulness,  or  the  fear  of  them 
would  paralyze  effort,  and  destroy  health,  if  not 
life.  Borrowed  trouble,  even  now,  constitutes 
a  large  part  of  our  unhappiness ;  but  the  cer- 
tain knowledge  of  a  sorrow  approaching  us 
with  unrelenting  steps,  would  s]3read  a  pall 
over  every  thing ;  while  prosperity,  far  in  the 
prospect,  would  tempt  us  to  forget  our  depend- 
ence upon  God,  and  would  weaken  the  motives 
to  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  for  its 
own  sake.  s- 

Then,  with  regard  to  any  assurance  which 
the  dead  w^ould  give  us  about  truth  and  duty, 
we  need  not  their  help.     For  the  dead  can  tell 


THE    SILENCE    OP    THE    DEAD.  127 

US  substantially  no  more  than  we  find  recorded 
in  the  Bible.  They  would  describe  heaven  to 
us,  and  speak  of  future  punishment.  But  sup- 
pose that  they  did.  What  language  would 
they  use  more  graphic,  or  more  intelligible  to 
us,  than  the  language  of  the  Bible  ?  Whatever 
they  said,  we  shoiild  feel  obliged  to  compare  it 
with  the  Scriptures ;  if  it  should  be  according 
to  them,  we  do  not  need  it.  Besides,  the  ap- 
pearance to  us  of  departed  friends,  would,  in 
many  cases,  only  operate  on  our  fears.  But 
the  Bible  pleads  with  us  by  many  gentle 
motives,  as  well  as  by  warnings  and  terrific 
descriptions,  and  sets  before  us  numberless 
inducements  to  repent,  which  the  whole  world 
of  the  dead,  uninspired,  could  not  so  well  fur- 
nish. The  appearance  and  words  of  a  spii-it 
would  excite  us,  and  make  us  afraid ;  we  could 
not  feel  and  act  as  well,  under  such  influences, 
as  we  can  under  the  calm,  dispassionate,  con- 
vincing, and  persuasive  influences  of  the  Bible. 
One  of  the  most  intelligent  and  cultivated 
of  women,  the  wife  of  a  missionary  in  Turkey, 


128  CATHARINE. 

in  her  last  sickness,  having  heard  her  husband 
read  to  her  several  times,  from  the  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  respecting  the  River  of  Death  and 
the  Celestial  City,  at  last  said  to  him,  as  he  was 
opening  the  book,  "  Read  to  me  out  of  the 
Bible  j  that  soothes  me ;  I  can  hear  it  for  a 
long  time ;  but  even  Bunyan  agitates  me." 

As  much  as  we  suppose  it  would  comfort  us 
to  have  intercourse  with  the  dead,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  the  great  law  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment, by  which  faith,  and  not  sight,  is  the  ap- 
pointed means  of  our  spiritual  good,  Avould  be 
violated,  could  the  dead  speak  with  us.  We 
are  to  trust  in  the  mercy  and  the  justice  of 
God.  This  we  could  not  so  well  do,  if  we 
knew  things  about  which,  now,  we  are  obliged 
to  exercise  faith.  The  inspired  Word,  the  only 
and  the  all-sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  duty,  is 
a  better  guide  than  the  voices  of  the  dead. 

An  interesting  illustration  of  this  is  given  by 
one  who  witnessed  the  appearance  of  departed 
spirits  on  a  certain  most  interesting  occasion. 
Two     illustrious    men,    of   the    Jewish    line. 


THE    SILENCE    OP    THE    DEAD.  129 

appeared  and  spake  with  Christ.  The  person 
of  the  Saviour  experienced  a  remarkable  trans- 
figuration^ assuring  his  human  soul  of  the  joy 
set  before  him ;  the  presence  of  the  celestial 
spirits,  also,  confirming  his  assurance  respecting 
the  separate  existence  of  souls^  and  the  whole 
transaction  being  designed  to  strengthen  the 
fiiith  of  the  disciples,  and  of  the  world,  in  the 
Saviour. 

But  what  comparative  value  does  one  of  the 
inspired  witnesses  of  this  scene  give  to  this 
heavenly  communication,  these  voices  of  the 
dead,  and  this  visit  from  the  heavenly  world  ? 
Does  he  build  his  faith  upon  it,  as  upon  a 
corner  stone?  No;  but  after  telling  us,  in 
glowing  language,  respecting  this  most  wonder- 
ful and  impressive  scene,  he  says,  "  We  have 
also  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy;  where- 
unto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed  as  unto  a 
light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day 
clawn,  and  the  day  star  arise  in  your  hearts." 
That  sm^e  word,  —  "  more  sure  "  than  the  testi- 
mony of  departed  spirits,  or  than  voices  from 


130  CATHARINE. 

the  other  world,  —  is  the  Bible ;  for  he  imme- 
diately adds,  "  For  the  prophecy  came  not  in 
old  time  by  the  will  of  man,  but  holy  men  of 
God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  The  testimony  of  departed  spirits, 
even  of  Moses  and  Elijah,  might  be,  after  all, 
only  "  the  will  of  man  j "  but  in  the  Bible  men 
have  spoken  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

As  to  its  being  a  comfort,  in  any  case,  that 
departed  friends  should  speak  to  us,  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  it  would  prove  to  be  so.  Sup- 
pose them  to  utter  words  of  endearment ;  this 
would  open  the  fountains  of  grief  in  our  souls 
afresh.  Suppose  them  to  tell  us  that  they  are 
safe  and  happy  ;  it  would  be  far  better  for  us, 
in  many  cases,  to  hope  respecting  this,  than  to 
know  it ;  the  knowledge  of  it  might  make  us 
careless  and  too  confident  about  ourselves ; 
we  should  be  less  inclined  to  shun  the  errors 
of  these  friends,  to  guard  against  their  imper- 
fections, and  to  fear  lest  a  promise  being  left 
us  of  entering  into  that  rest,  any  of  us  should 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  131 

seem  to  come  short  of  it.  One  of  the  most 
inconvenient  and  uneasy  states  of  mind,  is  that 
of  insatiable  curiosity  —  longing  to  know  that 
which  is  concealed,  dispirited  at  the  delay  of 
information,  refusing  effort  except  under  the 
spur  of  absolute  assurance.  Far  better  and 
more  healthful  is  that  state  of  mind  which  per- 
forms present  duty,  and  leaves  the  rest  to  the 
unfolding  hand  of  time ;  which  disdains  that 
prying,  inquisitive  disposition  which  is  all  eye 
and  ear,  which  lives  on  excitement,  which  has 
no  selt-respect,  nor  regard  for  any  thing  but 
to  know  something  yet  unknown.  If  God 
suffered  the  dead  to  speak  to  us,  we  should 
always  be  on  the  watch  for  some  sign;  we 
should  be  unfitted  for  the  common,  practical 
duties  of  life ;  we  should  be  superstitious,  vis- 
ionary, fanatical,  timorous.  As  it  is,  how  eager 
we  are  to  pry  into  the  future,  or  into  things 
purposely  hidden  from  us !  If  it  were  cer- 
tainly known  that  one  had  communication 
with  the  dead,  or  if  we  had  good  reason  to 
expect  such  communications,  labor  would  be 


132  CATHARINE.     . 

neglected,  faith,  prayer,  hope,  confidence  in 
God  would  decrease,  the  Bible  would  be  un- 
dervalued through  a  superior  regard  to  a  dif- 
ferent mode  of  revelation,  and  we  should  live, 
as  it  were,  among  the  tombs.  A  morbid  state 
of  feeling  would  pervade  our  minds,  and  the 
world  would  be  full  of  enchantments,  necro- 
mancy, and  cunning  craftiness.  Blessed  be 
God  for  the  silence  of  the  dead  !  We  are  glad 
that  our  weak  and  foolish  hearts,  so  prone  to 
love  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator,  are 
broken  off,  by  the  impenetrable  veil  of  death, 
from  all  connection  with  the  departed.  The 
salutary  influences  of  death  on  survivors  would 
be  greatly  lessened,  if  our  connection  and  com- 
munication witfi  them  were  continued.  God 
is  our  chief  good,  not  our  friends,  nor  our  chil- 
dren ;  he  shuts  them  up  in  silence  from  us,  to 
see  if  we  can  say,  "  Whom  have  I  in  heaven 
but  thee  ?  And  there  is  none  upon  earth  that 
I  desire  besides  thee."  The  painful  effect  upon 
our  feelings,  and  upon  our  nervous  system,  of 
separations  from  departed  friends,  is  involun- 


THE    SILENCE    OP    THE    DEAD.  133 

tary  and  natural ;  but  to  cherish  our  griefs,  to 
spend  much  time  in  melancholy  moods,  or  in 
poring  over  the  memorials  of  the  departed,  so 
as  to  excite  and  indulge  morbid  feelings,  is  not 
Christian  nor  wise. 

While  this  is  true,  and  there  is  much  immod- 
erate and  irrational  grief,  the  disposition,  with 
many,  is  to  forget  the  dead  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  forever.  Some  need  to  think  far  more  of 
the  deceased.  They  should  remember  that  the 
dead  are  alive;  that  no  doubt  they  think  of 
them;  and  that,  mstead  of  being  separated 
farther  and  farther  from  the  deceased,  by  the 
lapse  of  time,  they  are  every  day  coming 
nearer  and  nearer  to  them,  and  they  must 
meet  again. 

It  is  well  for  us  frequently  to  remember  that 
the  silence  of  the  dead  is  no  true  exponent  of 
their  real  state.  Incoherent  and  wild  as  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  sometimes  are,  under  the 
distracting  influence  of  affliction  and  death, 
and  all  uncertain  as  we  are  about  the  de- 
parture of  the  soul,  we  are  not  left  without 

12 


134  CATHARINE. 

sure  and  most  satisfying  information  respecting 
the  separate  state. 

There  is  no  annihilation.  The  life  of  the 
soul  is  not  extinguished  like  the  flame  of  a 
lamp.  Existence  is  not  that  lingering,  twin- 
kling spark  which  it  seems  to  be  in  the  mo- 
ments preceding  death.  To  be  absent  from 
the  body,  for  a  Christian,  is  to  be  present  with 
the  Lord ;  to  die  is  gain ;  to  depart,  and  be 
with  Christ,  is  far  better.  When  the  dust  re- 
turns to  the  earth  as  it  w^as,  the  spirit  ascends 
to  God,  who  gave  it.  The  soul  is  more  vig- 
orous and  active  than  when  shut  up  in  the 
body,  because  a  higher  form  of  life  is  re- 
quired in  being  with  God  and  angels.  We 
are  told  that  the  piou&  dead  are  "the  spirits 
of  just  men  made  perfect."  All  imperfection 
arising  from  bodily  organization,  as  well  as 
from  our  fallen  state  here,  has  ceased,  and  the 
soul  has  become  a  pure  spirit,  in  a  spiritual 
world,  engaged  in  spiritual  pursuits.  Memory 
is  awake;  every  perceptive  faculty  is  in  per- 
fection ;  the  soul  that  sees  far  distant  places, 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  135 

in  a  momentj  in  sleep,  —  that  holds  converse 
with  other,  but  absent,  minds,  while  the  body 
is  sealed  in  slumber,  —  not  only  does  not  need 
the  present  body  to  make  it  capable  of  percep-^ 
tion,  but  when  escaped  from  this  material  con- 
dition, and  from  dependence  upon  these  bodily 
senses,  which  now  are  like  colored  glass  to 
the  eyes,  it  will  be  far  more  capable  than  be- 
fore ;  though  the  spiritual  body,  at  the  last,  will 
advance  it  to  a  still  higher  condition.  Its  judg- 
ment is  sound,  its  sensibilities  are  quick,  its 
thoughts  are  full  of  unmixed  joy.  But  we 
probably  could  not  understand  the  nature  of 
its  employments,  nor  its  discoveries,  nor  its  sen- 
sations, any  further  than  we  now  do  from  the 
word  of  God.  We  have  no  record,  nor  tra- 
dition, of  any  disclosures  made  by  Lazarus,  or 
the  widow  of  Nain's  son,  or  the  dead  who 
came  out  of  their  graves  at  the  crucifixion, 
and  went  into  the  Holy  City,  and  appeared 
unto  many.  The  only  way  to  account  for  this 
seems  to  be,  to  suppose  that  they  told  nothing 
of  what  they  had  seen  or  heard.     Had  they 


136  CATHARINE. 

made  any  disclosures  of  the  unseen  world, 
those  disclosures  would  never  have  been  for- 
gotten. They  would  have  been  preserved  in 
the  memories  of  men,  to  be  handed  down  from 
age  to  age.  Paul  himself  had  no  very  distinct 
recollection  of  what  he  had  heard  and  seen  in 
Paradise ;  for  he  says  that  he  could  not  tell 
whether  he  was  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body. 
We  think  in  words,  which  at  the  time  are  in- 
telligible, but  we  often  fail  when  we  try  to  pro- 
duce them  ;  so  that  Paul's  expression,  very  sin- 
gular in  each  part  of  it,  —  "  heard  unspeakable 
words,"  —  may  refer  to  the  impressions  made  on 
his  own  mind  in  his  revelations,  as  not  possible 
to  be  clothed  in  speech.  It  may  have  been 
with  him,  upon  his  return  to  the  body,  and  with 
the  risen  dead,  as  it  was  with  Nebuchadnezzar, 
who  knew  that  he  had  dreamed,  and  the  dream 
had  made  powerful  impressions  on  his  mind, 
but  the  dream  itself  had  departed  from  him. 
Now,  if  the  bodily  senses,  or  the  soul  while  in 
the  body,  cannot  comprehend  so  as  to  express 
what  has  been  seen  in  heaven,  it  is  doubtful  if 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  137 

we  could  understand  it  if  it  should  be  revealed 
by  a  spirit  from  heaven.  The  Bible  has  prob- 
ably given  us  as  definite  information  about 
heaven  as  we  could  possibly  understand  —  cer- 
tainly as  much  as  God  judges  best  for  our 
usefulness  and  happiness.  But  we  must  prob- 
ably learn  an  unearthly  language^  and,  in 
order  to  this,  unearthly  ideas,  before  we  can 
understand  the  things  which  are  within  the 
veil.  The  modes  of  communication  in  heaven 
between  people  of  strange  languages,  whether 
by  a  common  speech,  or  by  the  power  given 
to  the  disciples  at  the  day  of  Pentecost,  or  by 
intuition,  are  not  made  known  to  us ;  but  this 
wonderful  faculty  of  language,  holding  an  in- 
termediate place  between  spirit  and  matter, 
has,  of  course,  a  corresponding  faculty  in  the 
world  of  spirits.  It  is,  no  doubt,  an  incon- 
ceivably pleasurable  source  of  enjoyment.  This 
increases  the  sublimity  which  there  is  in  the 
silence  of  the  dead,  and  its  impressiveness.  For 
what  fancy  can  conceive  of  the  communications, 
from  heart  to  heart,  in  that  multitude  where 


138  CATHARINE. 

every  new  acquaintance  is  the  occasion  of 
some  new  joy,  or  wakes  some  thrilling  recol- 
lection, or  leads  to  some  interesting  discovery, 
and  gives  some  fresh  objects  of  love  and  praise! 
The  land  of  silence  surely  extends  no  farther 
than  to  the  gates  of  that  heavenly  city.  All 
is  life  and  activity  within ;  but  from  that  world, 
so  populous  with  thoughts,  and  words,  and 
songs,  no  revelation  penetrates  through  the 
dark,  silent  land  which  lies  between  us  and 
them.  Our  friends  are  there.  Stars,  so  distant 
from  us  that  their  light,  which  began  its  travel 
ages  since,  has  not  reached  us,  are  none  the 
less  worlds,  performing  their  revolutions,  and 
occupied  by  their  busy  population  of  intelli- 
gent spirits,  whose  history  is  full  of  wonders. 
Yet  the  first  ray  denoting  the  existence  of 
those  worlds,  has  never  met  the  eye  of  the 
astronomer  in  his  incessant  vigils. 

The  silence  of  the  departed  will,  for  each  of 
us,  soon,  very  soon,  be  interrupted.  Entering, 
among  breaking  shadows  and  softly  unfolding 
light,   the    border    land,  we   shall    gradually 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  139 

awake  to  the  opening  vision  of  things  unseen 
and  eternal^  all  so  kindly  revealing  themselves 
to  our  unaccustomed  senses  as  to  make  us 
say,  ''  How  beautiful ! "  and  instead  of  exciting 
fear,  leading  us  almost  to  hasten  the  hand 
which  is  removing  the  veil.  Some  well-known 
voice,  so  long  silent,  may  be  the  first  to  utter*" 
our  name ;  we  are  recognized,  we  are  safe.  A 
face,  a  dear,  dear  face,  breaks  forth  amidst 
the  crayoned  lines  of  the  dissolving  night;  a 
form  - —  an  embrace  —  assures  us  that  faith  has 
not  deceived  us,  but  has  delivered  us  up  to 
the  objects  hoped  for,  the  things  not  seen.  0 
beatific  moment!  awaiting  every  follower  of 
them  who,  by  faith  and  patience,  inherit  the 
promises — dwellers  there  ^^  whither  the  Fore- 
runner is  for  us  entered." 

As  we  are  soon  to  be  utterly  silent  towards 
surviving  friends,  and  the  world  in  which  we 
now  live,  we  should  use  our  speech  as  we 
shall  wish  we  had  done  when  we  are  silent 
in  death.     Any  counsels,  instructions,  records, 


140  CATHARINE. 

explanations,  communications  of  any  kind, 
which  we  would  make,  we  should  be  diligent  to 
perform.  All  the  loving  words,  and  tokens  of 
aJBfection,  which  we  may  suppose  we  shall  here- 
after desire  to  communicate,  we  shall  do  well 
habitually  to  bear  in  mind,  and  let  them  in- 
"fluence  our  feelings  and  conduct,  day  by  day. 
In  times  of  sickness,  of  separation,  of  absence, 
at  happy  returns,  our  feelings  towards  familiar 
friends  and  members  of  the  family  are  such  as 
might  well  be  the  standard,  and  pattern,  of  our 
general  intercourse,  especially  when  we  think 
that  the  days  will  come  when  we  shall  highly 
prize  and  long  for  that  intercourse,  which  now 
we  have  such  opportunity  to  enrich  with  sweet 
and  fragrant  recollections,  occasioning  no  pang 
of  regret,  nor  sting.  It  is  well  to  remember 
that,  one  day,  we  must  part,  and  to  let  that 
anticipation  intensify  our  love,  and  add  charms 
to  this  daily  companionship,  which  may  soon 
appear  to  be  a  privilege  which  we  did  not 
sufficiently  prize. 

The  time  will  come,  when,  to  many  a  beloved 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  141 

survivor,  a  word  or  sign,  breaking  the  silence 
of  the  departed  spirit,  and  giving  some  assur- 
ance  that  it  is  happy,  would,  perhaps,  be  the 
means  of  dispelling  a  life-long  sorrow  —  would 
lift  a  crushing  burden  from  the  heart.  The 
time  to  prepare  that  assurance,  so  that  it  shall 
come  with  most  effectual  power,  is  now,  in 
days  of  health,  when  the  evidences  of  our  piety 
shall  not  be  attainted  by  a  suspicion  of  con- 
straint and  insincerit}^,  arising  from  late  re- 
pentance and  an  apparently  forced  submission 
to  God.  Our  recollections  of  a  departed  Chris- 
tian friend,  of  whose  salvation  his  pious  life 
makes  us  perfectly  assured,  come  over  us  like 
the  soft  pulsations  of  a  west  wind  in  summer, 
laden  with  the  sweets  of  a  new-mown  field; 
or  like  the  clear,  streaming  moonlight  in  the 
brief  interval  between  the  broken  clouds;  or 
like  remembered  music,  which  some  accidental 
word  of  a  song  has  startled  from  its  place 
and  diffused  through  the  soul.  Thus  departed 
Christian  friends  are  the  means  of  unspeakable 


142  CATHARINE. 

happiness  to  survivors ;  thus  "  their  works  do 
follow  them;"  and  we  should  make  large  ac- 
count of  this  when  we  are  weighing  the  ques- 
tion whether  we  will  now,  or  in  the  closing 
hours  of  life,  so  fearfully  uncertain,  begin  to 
love  and  serve  God. 

The  question  which  earth  asks  respecting 
one  and  another,  "Where  is  he ? "  is  no  doubt 
repeated  in  heaven:  Have  you  met  him  in 
any  of  these  streets  ?  Did  you  see  him  on 
yonder  hills?  Angels,  returned  from  other 
happy  worlds,  have  you  heard  of  him  ?  Where 
is  he?  He  is  conscious,  intelligent,  receiving 
sensations  from  objects  around  him  as  vividly 
as  ever.     But,  Where  is  he  ? 

Of  others,  the  question  could  be  answered 
by  ten  thousand  happy  voices,  "All  is  well." 
With  regard  to  many,  the  silence  of  the  dead, 
forbidding  our  inquiries,  is  the  only  thing  which, 
in  any  measure,  composes  the  grief  of  friends. 
But  as  to  our.  Christian  friends,  we  have  no 
more  reason  to  inquire  with  solicitude  respect- 


THE    SILENCE    OF    THE    DEAD.  143 

ing  them,  than  concerning  the  Saviour  himself. 
"I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,"  —  "that 
where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  The 
dying  Christian  may  truly  say  to  his  friends, 
as  the  Saviour  did  to  his :   "  Whither  I  go  ye 

KNOW,  AND   THE   WAY   YE   KNOW.'' 


V. 

THE  BEDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY 


What  though  my  body  run  to  dust  ? 

Faith  cleaves  unto  it,  counting  every  grain 
With  an  exact  and  most  particular  trust, 

Reserving  all  for  flesh  again. 

Geokoe  Herbert. 


It  is  good  to  think  of  Michael,  the  archangel, 
disputing  with  the  devil  about  the  body  of 
Moses.  The  dispute  was  over  a  grave.  The 
Most  High  had  himself  performed  the  funeral 
rites  of  his  servant  •  for,  we  read,  "  The  Lord 
buried  him."  We  naturally  think  of  the  arch- 
angel as  placed  in  charge  of  the  precious  dust. 

Some  great  commission,  connected  with  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  appears  to  be  held 
by  the  chief  spirit  of  the  angelic  world.  "For 
the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven 
with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel, 
and  the  trump  of  God."     The  burial  of  each 

(U4) 


THE  REDEMPTION  OP  THE  BODY.    145 

and  every  body  which  is  destined  to  the  resur- 
rection of  the  justj  is,  therefore,  not  improbably 
an  object  of  interest  with  him  who,  under  the 
God-man,  will  have  the  supervision  of  the  Ig^st 
day.  With  a  view  to  that  harvest  of  the 
earth,  he  will  now  see  the  furrows  made,  the 
seed  planted,  the  hill  prepared.  He  will  have 
a  care  that  every  thing  lies  down,  whether  by 
seeming  accident,,  or  by  violence,  or  by  design, 
in  just  the  place  from  which  the  arranging 
mind  of  Him  who  is  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and 
of  the  living,  has  appointed  it  to  come  forth. 
Every  circumstance  attending  that  event,  the 
great  object  of  hope  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  — 
our  resurrection,  —  is  of  sufficient  importance 
to  be  the  subject  of  thought  and  preparation 
on  the  part  of  Christ,  himself  the  first  fruits  of 
them  that  slept. 

The  care  of  the  patriarchs  concerning  their 
burial  places  is  like  one  of  those  premonitions 
in  an  antecedent  stratum  of  geology,  or  species 
of  animals,  of  a  coming  manifestation ;  —  a 
prophesying  germ,  a  yearning,  created  by  Him 

13 


146  CATHARINE. 

who,  with  all-seeing  wisdom,  establishes  antici- 
pations in  the  moral,  as  well  as  in  the  natural, 
world,  concerning  things  with  regard  to  which 
a  thousand  years  are  with  him  as  one  day. 

Not  on  earth  alone,  as  it  seems,  is  an  intep 
est  felt  in  the  death  and  burial  of  the  right- 
eous. 

For  when  the  leader  of  Israel  in  the  wilder- 
ness went  up  to  the  hill  top  to  die,  the  two 
great  angels,  of  heaven  and  hell,  met  and  con- 
tended over  his  grave. 

Denied  the  privilege  of  burial  in  the  prom- 
ised land,  Moses  may  have  appeared  to  Satan 
so  evidently  under  the  frown  of  God,  as  to  en- 
courage his  meddlesome  efforts  to  inflict  some 
injury  upon  him,  through  dishonor  done  to  his 
remains.  Perhaps  he  would  convey  them  back 
to  Egypt,  a  gift  to  the  brooding  vengeance  of 
the  Pharaohs,  who  would  gratify  their  anger  by 
preserving  that  body  in  the  house  of  their 
gods ;  —  thus  showing  their  spiteful  satisfaction 
at  the  disappointment  of  the  projohet  whom 
Jehovah  would  not  permit  to  enter  that  prom- 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.  147 

ised  land^  in  hope  of  which  the  great  spoiler 
had  led  away  the  bondmen  of  Egypt. 

Perhaps  the  devil  would  gratify  the  desire 
of  some  idolatrous  nation^  craving  new  objects 
of  worship,  by  leading  them  to  canonize  this 
Hebrew  chief;  and  thus  make  of  the  lawgiver 
and  prophet  of  Israel  a  false  god. 

Perhaps  he  could  even  prevail  on  some  of 
the  Israehtes  themselves,  if  not  the  whole  of 
them,  to  worship  this  revered  form  -,  or  might  he 
but  have  the  designation  and  the  custody  of  his 
grave,  he  would,  perhaps,  fix  it  where  it  would 
be  most  convenient  for  the  nation  to  assemble, 
at  stated  times,  for  some  idolatrous  rites. 

But  the  great  vicegerent  of  the  resurrection 
was  there.  To  him  the  body  of  a  saint  is  sug- 
gestiye  of  the  last  day ;  it  is  a  special  assign- 
ment by  Christ,  an  official  trust,  to  the  arch- 
angel. Bodies  of  saints  are,  therefore,  most 
precious  to  him.  Particles  of  the  precious 
metal  are  not  more  precious  to  the  miner, 
pearls  to  the  diver,  ivory  to  the  Coast-merchant, 
and   the    shell-fish   to    the   maker   of  Tyrian 


148  CATHARINE. 

purple.  The  body  of  each  saint  is  an  unfin- 
ished history  of  redemption ;  a  destiny  of  in- 
describable interest  and  importance  belongs  to 
it.  Any  subaltern  angel  may  have  charge  of 
winds  and  seas,  of  day  and  night,  of  summer 
and  winter ;  but  only  the  archangel  is  counted 
meet  to  have  charge,  and  to  keep  watch  and 
ward,  over  the  bodies  of  saints  as  they  sleep  in 
Jesus. 

"  He  disputed  about  the  body  of  Moses."  It 
was  a  dispute  characterized  on  the  part  of  the 
archangel  more  by  act  than  word.  Words  are 
hushed  in  great  encounters.  Debate  with  a 
pirate,  a  body-snatcher,  would  be  folly;  no 
arguments,  therefore,  were  wasted,  on  the  top 
of  Nebo,  by  Michael,  over  the  grave  of  Moses. 
"  The  Lord  rebuke  thee,"  was  his  retort ;  his 
heavenly  form  stopping  the  way,  his  baffling 
right  arm  hindering  the  accursed  design,  were 
the  invincible  logic  of  that  dispute. 

0  prince  of  angels,  watchman,  herald,  master 
of  the  guard,  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  — 
comptroller,  now,  of  that  treasury  which  re- 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    149 

ceives  and  keeps  their  precious  forms,  —  from 
whose  lips  that  signal  is  to  come  which  mil- 
lions on  millions  are  to  hear,  and  live,  —  what 
images  of  glory  and  terror  fill  thy  mind  in  the 
anticipation  of  that  moment  when  thy  dread 
commission  is  to  be  fulfilled !  Is  not  that 
"  trumpet "  sometimes  taken  into  thy  hand  ? 
Dost  thou  not  place  it  to  thy  lips,  but  quickly 
lay  it  aside,  and  patiently  and  joyfully  watch 
the  swelling  number  of  the  graves  of  saints  ? 
Funerals  of  those  who  fall  asleep  in  Jesus, 
to  thee  are  pleasant  scenes ;  they  are  spring- 
work,  planting  times,  for  thy  harvest,  0  chief 
reaper  !  While,  with  bursting  hearts,  we  turn 
from  the  new-made  mound,  one  more  glorified 
body,  in  anticipation,  is  added  to  thy  charge. 
Smiling  at  our  sorrow,  in  joyful  thought  of 
the  change  to  be  witnessed  in  and  around  that 
sepulchre  when  the  family  circle  shall  there 
put  on  incorruption,  thou  canst  not  pity  us 
except  as  we  pity  the  brief  sorrows  of  chil- 
dren. If  the  devil  should  approach  that  spot, 
to   work   some   unknown,   and,  to   us,   incon- 

13* 


150  CATHARINE. 

ceivable,  harm  to  that  body,  —  be  it  the  body 
of  the  humblest  saint,  one  of  those  Httle  ones 
who  believe  in  Jesus,  or  of  those  infants  whose 
angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  God, — 
thou,  mighty  cherub,  wouldst  be  there,  and, 
if  need  be,  with  a  band  of  angels,  "  every  one 
with  his  sword*  upon  his  thigh,  because  of  fear 
in  the  night;"  and  Nebo  and  its  "dispute" 
would  reappear.  Poor,  dying,  mouldering 
body !  hast  thou  the  archangel  himself  for  thy 
keeper  ?     Not  only  so  : 

«  God,  my  Redeemer,  lives, 
And  often  from  the  skies 
Looks  down  and  watches  all  my  dust, 
Till  he  shaU  bid  it  rise." 

Nor  is  it  strange,  since  we  read,  ^'  The  body 
is  for  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  for  the  body." 
"  Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you  ?  " 

To  rise  from  the  dead  seems  to  have  been 
something  more  to  Paul  than  going  to  heaven, 
or  than  being  in  heaven.  He  knew  that  he 
was  to  spend  the  interval  between  death  and 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    151 

the  resurrection  in  heaven  ;  but  beyond  even 
this,  he  had  a  joy  which  he  felt  was  essential 
to  the  completeness  of  the  heavenly  state. 

See  the  proof  of  this  in  the  following  words  : 
*^If  by  any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead." 

Since  he  was  destined,  like  all  of  Adam's 
race,  to  come  forth  from  his  grave,  he  needed 
to  make  no  effort  whatever  merely  to  rise  from 
the  dead  ;  that  was  inevitable,  and  irrespective 
of  character.  Besides,  he  represents  this  ob- 
ject for  which  he  strove  as  something  which 
required  effort,  which  cannot  be  said  of  merely 
rising  from  the  grave. 

Paul  had  been  permitted  to  know,  by  per- 
sonal observatioUj  what  the  rising  from  the 
dead  implies.  Caught  up  into  Paradise,  we 
may  suppose  that  he  had  seen  the  patriarch 
Enoch,  and  the  prophet  Elijah,  with  their  glori- 
fied bodies ;  the  presence  of  which  in  heaven, 
we  may  imagine,  has  ever  served  to  enhance 
the  happiness  of  that  world,  by  holding  forth, 
before  the  eyes  of  the  redeemed,  the  sign  and 


152  CATHARINE. 

pledge  of  their  future  experience  when  they 
shall  receive  their  bodies.  For  it  is  not  pre- 
sumptuous to  suppose  that  the  sight  of  Enoch 
and  Elijah  has  been,  and  will  be,  till  the  last 
trumj^et  sounds,  a  source  of  joyful  expectation 
to  the  inhabitants  of  heaven,  leading  them  to 
anticipate  the  final  day  wdth  intense  interest, 
as  the  time  when  they  will  be  invested,  like 
those  honored  saints,  with  all  the  capacities  of 
their  completed  nature,  which  nature,  while 
the  body  lies  buried,  is  in  a  dissevered  state. 
If  Paul,  w^hen  in  heaven,  saw  and  felt  the 
power  of  this  expectation  in  the  minds  of 
glorified  saints,  no  wonder  that  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  seemed  to  him,  ever  after, 
to  be  the  crown  of  Christian  expectation  and 
hope. 

More  than  all,  he  had  seen  the  man  Christ 
Jesus,  in  his  glorified  body ;  who  on  earth  had 
said,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life "  — 
himself  an  illustration  of  it,  whom  alone  the 
grave  has  yielded  up  to  die  no  more.  He  is, 
therefore,  to  saints  in  heaven,  a  far  more  inter- 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.         153 

esting  object  than  Enoch  and  Elijah,  who  never 
died.  "  For  now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  is  become  the  first  fruits  of  them  that 
slept."  This  sight,  of  Christ  in  heaven,  must 
have  had  unutterable  interest  for  Paul,  from 
the  assurance  that  Christ  will  "  change  our  vile 
body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his 
glorious  body ; "  for  "  we  know  that  when  he 
shall  appear,"  Paul  himself  tells  us,  "  we  shall 
be  like  him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 
This  knowledge,  obtained  in  the  heavenly 
world,  may  have  led  the  apostle  to  think  of  the 
resurrection  as  the  crown  of  all  his  expecta- 
tions and  hopes. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  Jesus  himself,  refer  chiefly  to 
the  resurrection  and  the  last  day  as  sources  of 
comfort,  and  also  of  warning.  Now  this  is  made 
a  principal  ground  of  belief,  with  many,  that 
there  is  either  no  consciousness  between  death 
and  the  resurrection ;  or,  that  none  have  gone 
to  heaven,  nor  to  hell,  but  to  intermediate 
places,  seeing  that  final  rewards  and  punish- 


154  CATHARINE. 

ments  are,  in  so  many  instances,  wholly  predi- 
cated of  the  last  day. 

But  those  who  believe  that  the  souls  of  the 
righteous  are,  at  their  death,  made  perfect  in  ho- 
liness, and  do  immediately  pass  into  glory,  see 
proof,  in  all  this  prominence  which  is  given  to 
the  last  day,  and  to  the  resurrection,  that  the 
sacred  writers  regarded  the  resurrection  and 
final  judgment  as  the  great  consummation, 
towards  which  souls,  in  heaven  and  in  hell, 
would  be  looking  forward  with  intense  expec- 
tation and  interest ;  that  neither  will  the  joys 
of  heaven  nor  the  pains  of  hell  be  complete, 
till  the  account  of  our  whole  influence  upon 
the  world,  extending  to  the  end  of  time,  is 
made  up,  and  the  body  is  added  to  the  soul. 
When  Paul  comforts  the  mourners  of  Thessa- 
lonica,  he  bids  them  to  "  sorrow  not  as  they 
that  have  no  hope ;  for,"  (and  now  he  does 
not  speak  of  heaven,  and  of  souls  being  already 
there,  as  the  source  of  consolation,  but)  "  if  we 
believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so 
them,  also,  that  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.  155 

with  him ; "  and  he  proceeds  to  speak  of  the 
resurrection,  —  not  of  the  speedy  reunion  of 
friends  after  death,  but  of  the  departed  as  com- 
ing with  Christ  at  the  last  day.  This,  instead 
of  being  an  argument  against  the  immediate 
departure  of  souls  to  heaven,  arises  from  the 
desire  to  employ  the  strongest  possible  proof 
that  the  pious  dead  are  not  only  safe,  but 
are  greatly  honored.  "  Eesurrection "  was  an 
abounding  subject  of  thought,  argument,  and 
illustration  in  those  days;  the  state  of  the 
dead  between  death  and  the  last  day,  is  com- 
paratively disregarded  by  the  apostles,  while 
their  minds  were  full  of  the  great  question  of 
the  age  —  the  Eesurrection.  This  fulness  of 
thought  and  constant  occupation  of  mind  about 
the  resurrection,  as  the  cardinal  doctrine  of 
Christian  hope,  explains  the  apparent  belief  of 
the  apostles,  in  some  passages,  that  the  final 
day  was  near.  This  the  apostle  Paul  expressly 
denies,  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Second 
Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians.  But  a  greater 
event,  looked  at  in  the  same  line  of  vision  with 


156  CATHARINE. 

an  intermediate  and  smaller  object,  will,  of 
course,  have  the  prominent  place  in  our 
thoughts.  The  less  will  be  held  subordinate  to 
the  greater ;  perhaps  we  shall  seem  to  under- 
rate the  less,  in  our  exalted  conceptions  of  that 
which  rises  beyond  and  above.  We  shall  see, 
as  we  proceed,  why  the  expectation  of  the  last 
day  seemed  to  occupy  the  thoughts  of  apostles 
as  the  paramount  object  of  expectation. 

It  is  perfectly  obvious  that,  at  the  resurrec- 
tion, the  bodies  of  the  just  will  be  endued  with 
wonderful  susceptibilities  and  powers.  This  is 
rendered  certain  by  the  great  mystery  of  godli- 
ness, —  God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  The  greatest 
honor  which  could  be  conferred  upon  our  na- 
ture, and  the  greatest  testimony  to  its  intrinsic 
dignity,  and  to  its  being,  in  its  unfallen  state, 
in  the  image  of  God,  is  bestowed  upon  it  by 
the  incarnation  of  the  Word.  True,  there  was 
a  necessity  that  the  Eedeemer  should  be  made 
like  unto  us,  however  inferior  human  nature 
might  be  in  the  scale  of  creation ;  still,  unless 
there   had  been    such    intrinsic    dignity   and 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    157 

excellence  in  our  sinless  nature,  as  to  make  it 
compatible  for  the  second  Person  in  the  God- 
head to  be  united  with  it,  we  cannot  suppose 
that  this  union  would  have  been  permanent; 
it  would  have  fulfilled  a  temporary  purpose, 
and  then  have  ceased. 

Perhaps  we  slightly  err  if  we  think  of 
Christ's  assumption  of  human  nature  as,  in  any 
respect,  an  incongruous  act  of  humiliation. 
For  man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God ;  so 
that  when  Christ  was  made  flesh,  without  sin, 
he  took  upon  himself  that  which,  in  some 
sense,  was  congruous  with  his  divine  nature. 
His  humiliation  consisted,  in  part,  in  his  doing 
this;  but  more  especially  in  his  doing  this  for 
such  a  purpose  —  for  sinners;  "in  his  being 
born,  and  that  in  a  low  condition,  made  under 
the  law,  undergoing  the  miseries  of  this  life, 
the  wrath  of  God,  and  the  cursed  death  of  the 
cross,  in  being  buried  and  continuing  under 
the  power  of  death  for  a  time."  Had  there 
been  no  inherent  congruity  between  our  na- 
ture  and   the   divine,   the   human    nature  of 

14 


158  CATHARINE. 

Christ,  having  accomplished  its  purpose  of 
suffering  and  death,  would  have  been  left  in 
the  grave.  "  But  now  is  Christ  risen  from 
the  dead ; "  the  body  and  the  human  soul, 
which  were  disunited  when  he  hung  upon  the 
cross,  now  constitute  the  same  man,  Christ 
Jesus.  "  The  only  Eedeemer  of  God's  elect  is 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  being  the  eternal 
Son  of  God,  became  man,  and  so  was,  and  con- 
tinues to  be,  God  and  man,  in  two  distinct 
natures  and  one  person,  forever."  The  latter 
part  of  this  answer  of  the  Assembly's  Shorter 
Catechism  is  thus  substantiated  by  the  New 
Testament:  "When  he  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  In 
other  words,  he  will  be,  when  he  appears, 
that  which  he  now  is  —  will  remain  the  same 
until  his  second  coming.  After  that,  he  will 
remain  as  he  was  before:  "Jesus  Christ,  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  He  is 
represented  as  holding  an  eternal  relation  to 
the  redeemed  in  his  glorified  nature:  "The 
Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.         159 

feed  theni;  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  foun- 
tains of  waters."  We  might,  indeed,  suppose 
that  the  man  Christ  Jesus  would  have  an  eter- 
nal recompense  for  his  sufferings  and  death  in 
an  everlasting  union  with  the  Godhead  -,  nor  can 
any  one  think,  with  satisfaction,  of  a  severance 
between  his  two  natures,  and  of  a  consequent 
humiliation,  or  deposition,  of  that  human  na- 
ture, which,  at  the  great  day,  will,  for  so  long 
a  time,  have  sustained  such  a  connection  with 
the  divine  nature.  For  our  present  purpose, 
however,  which  is  to  show  the  intrinsic  dignity 
of  the  human  nature,  it  would  be  enough  that 
it  has  been  in  such  connection  with  the  God- 
head, and  has  passed  through  such  scenes,  and 
sustained  such  vast  responsibilities.  This  is  suf- 
ficient to  prove  that  human  nature  is  intrinsi- 
cally capable  and  great ;  and,  indeed,  it  reveals 
to  us  as  nothing  else  does,  the  real  dignity 
of  our  nature.  Some,  who  have  rejected  the 
doctrine  of  Christ's  two  natures,  have  written 
much  and  eloquently  with  regard  to  man's 
greatness  in  creation.     They,  however,  missed 


160  CATHARINE. 

the  very  thing  which  chiefly  proves  it ;  for  all 
who  believe  in  the  Deity  of  Christ  have  a  proof 
and  illustration  of  this  great  theme  which  tran- 
cend  all  others. 

This  idea^  of  future  capability  and  exaltation 
for  human  nature,  as  proved  by  the  Saviour's 
incarnation,  is  brought  to  view  in  the  second 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The 
second  Psalm  is  there  quoted  as  speaking  of 
man :  "  Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his 
feet."  "But  now/'  the  apostle  says,  "we  see 
not  yet  all  things  put  under  him ; "  man,  as  a 
race,  has  not  reached  his  full  destiny  of  glory 
and  honor ;  but,  in  the  person  of  Christ,  human 
nature  has  taken  possession  of  its  future  in- 
heritance. We  see  not  yet  all  things  put 
under  man,  as  a  race  ;  but  "  we  see  Jesus,  who 
was  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels  for 
the  suffering  of  death,  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor  ;  "  —  a  sign  and  pledge  of  our  destiny. 

To  the  mind  of  Paul,  the  sight,  in  heaven,  of 
what  he  was  to  become,  set  forth  by  the  glori- 
fied person  of  the  Son  of  God,  his  Saviour  and 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    161 

infinite  Friend,  no  doubt  made  the  resumption 
of  the  body,  at  the  last  day,  the  most  desirable 
experience  of  which  it  was  possible  for  him  to 
conceive.  Paradise,  with  all  its  social  pleas- 
ures, gates  of  pearl,  streets  of  gold,  every  thing, 
in  short,  external  to  him,  must  have  seemed,  to 
the  apostle,  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with 
the  glory  which  was  to  be  revealed  in  him. 
An  intelligent  man  is  far  more  interested 
in  his  own  personal  endowments,  than  in 
the  accidental  circumstances  of  his  situation. 
Every  one,  who  is  not  degraded  in  his  feel- 
ings, would  prefer  to  be  enriched  with  natural, 
moral,  and  intellectual  powers,  rather  than  be 
the  richest  of  men,  or  an  hereditary  monarch, 
with  inferior  talents  and  worth.  To  such  a  man 
as  Paul,  the  possession  of  his  complete,  glorified 
nature,  at  the  resurrection,  must,  for  this  rea- 
son, have  seemed  far  better  than  all  the  pleas- 
ures or  honors  of  the  heavenly  world.  That 
completed  nature  would  constitute  him  a  being 
wholly  perfected,  invest  him  with  a  likeness  to 
the  Son  of  God,  bring  him  into   still  nearer 

14* 


162  CATHARINE. 

union  with  that  adorable  Kedeemer,  who,  Paul 
says,  loved  him  and  gave  himself  for  him,  and 
for  whom,  he  says,  he  had  suffered  the  loss  of 
all  things.  The  sight  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus 
wearing  Paul's  nature  in  a  glorified  state,  no 
doubt  lived  and  glowed  in  his  memory  after 
his  return  to  earth,  and  made  him  think  of  the 
resurrection  as  the  event,  in  his  personal  his- 
tory, to  which  every  thing  else  w^as  subor- 
dinate. He  shows  the  interest  which  he  felt 
in  this  event,  when,  writing  to  the  Romans, 
he  says,  "  And  not  only  they,"  —  that  is,  "  the 
creatures,"  or  creation,  —  "  but  ourselves,  also, 
which  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even 
we  ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting 
for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption,  of  our 
body."  In  his  address,  at  Jerusalem,  before 
his  accusers  and  the  people,  he  cried  out,  "  Of 
the  hope  and  resurrection  of  the  dead  I  am 
called  in  question."  It  was  uniformly  a  prom- 
inent topic  of  his  thoughts. 

It  is  by  no  means  impossible,  nor  improb- 
able, judging  from  analogy,  that  there  may  be, 


THE    REDEMPTION    OP    THE    BODY.         163 

in  the  human  soul,  faculties  which  are  slum- 
bering, until  a  glorified  body  assists  in  their 
development.  Persons  born  blind  have  the 
dormant  faculty  of  seeing ;  the  gift  of  the  eye 
would  bring  it  into  exercise.  So  of  the  other 
senses,  and  their  related  mental  faculties. 
With  a  glorified  body,  then,  truly  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be  ;  but  the  thought 
itself  is  rapture,  that  our  souls  at  present  may 
be  as  disproportioned  to  their  future  expan- 
sion, as  the  acorn  is  to  the  oak  of  a  century's 
growth,  which  is  infolded  now,  and  dormant, 
in  the  seed. 

The  addition  of  a  body  to  the  glorified  spirit 
will,  therefore,  be  a  help,  and  not  an  encum- 
brance. For  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the 
soul,  after  having  been  for  centuries  in  a  state 
superior  to  its  present  condition,  would  retro- 
grade, in  returning  to  the  body.  A  common 
idea  respecting  a  body  is,  that  it  is  necessarily 
a  clog.  True,  by  reason  of  sin  and  its  effects, 
it  is  now  a  "  vile  body ; "  and  Paul  speaks  of 
it   as  "the   body  of  this   death."     But,  even 


164  CATHARINE. 

while  we  are  in  this  world,  a  body  is  an  indis- 
pensable help  to  the  soul.  The  disembodied 
spirit,  probably,  is  not  capable  of  sustaining  a 
full,  active  relation  to  a  world  of  matter ;  a  ma- 
terial form  is  necessary  to  make  its  powers  ser- 
viceable here.  This  being  so,  there  is  certainly 
reason,  from  analogy,  to  suppose  that  the  addi- 
tion of  a  spiritual  body  to  the  glorified  soul 
will  not  necessarily  work  any  deterioration  to 
the  spirit.  At  all  events,  we  cannot  suppose 
that  the  bliss  of  heaven  will  be  suffered  to 
diminish,  by  remanding  the  emancipated  spirit 
into  connection  with  any  thing  which  will  sub- 
tract from  the  state  to  which  it  will  have 
arrived.  There  is  a  law  of  progress  in  the 
divine  government,  by  which  the  intelligent 
universe  will  be  forever  advancing.  We  are 
to  be  changed  "from  glory  to  glory; "  not  from 
a  greater  glory  to  a  less,  but  into  the  same 
image  with  Christ. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  some  that  every  created 
being  has  a  corporeal  part,  and  that  God  alone 
is  perfectly  a  spirit.     However  this  may  be,  it 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    165 

is  evident  that  the  souls  of  believers  after 
death^  though  advanced  far  beyond  their  pres- 
ent earthly  condition,  and  though  they  are 
"  with  Christ,"  and  though  to  die  is  gain,  and 
though  they  are  in  the  heaven  of  heavens  with 
Christ,  (which  is  where  the  penitent  thief  went^ 
and  where  Paul  had  his  revelation,  and  where 
Christ  went  when  he  died ;  —  for  Paul  uses  the 
words  "  third  heavens,"  and  "  Paradise,"  inter- 
changeably,) are,  nevertheless,  incomplete  as  to 
their  natures,  "  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to 
wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body."  Where  in 
the  Bible  are  we  led  to  suppose  that  they  are 
detained  in  an  inferior  region,  or  that  there  are, 
at  most,  only  two  redeemed  human  beings  now 
in  "  heaven,"  viz.,  Enoch  and  EHjah,  or  probably 
not  even  they  ?  But  a  corporeal  part,  we  may 
suppose,  is  necessary  to  the  fullest  participation 
in  the  employments  and  enjoyments  of  the 
spiritual  world.  Light  requires  atmosphere  to 
modify  it  for  the  human  eye,  which  otherwise 
could  not  endure  its  brightness.  So  it  may  be 
that  a  corporeal  part  is  necessary  to  modify 


166  CATHARINE. 

many  of  the  things  which  are  unseen  and 
eternal,  that  they  may  be  apprehended  by  the 
soul.  Let  no  one  say  that  matter  must  obstruct 
or  dim  the  senses  of  the  soul;  that  a  body 
must  act  as  a  veil  to  the  spirit,  and  shut  out 
much  knowledge.  It  is  not  so  here.  Matter 
helps  us  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  as, 
for  example,  glass  in  optical  instruments.  The 
telescope,  with  its  lenses,  gives  the  eye  vast 
compass;  the  microscope  gives  it  a  power, 
equally  wonderful,  of  minute  vision.  True,  in 
these  cases  it  is  matter  helping  matter  —  glass 
assisting  the  eye ;  the  analogy  is  not  perfect 
between  this  and  the  aid  which  the  spiritual 
body  may  afford  the  soul.  But,  if  we  remem- 
ber that  there  is  to  be  progression  in  the  powers 
and  faculties  of  our  nature,  and  that  if  a  body 
is  added  to  the  glorified  spirit,  it  must  be  to 
assist  it,  to  put  it  forward  in  its  acquisitions 
and  enjoyments,  we  cannot  resist  the  belief 
that  the  addition  of  the  new  body  to  the  soul 
will  be  a  vast  accession  of  powder  and  capa- 
bility.    If  the  eye  and  the  mind  can  receive 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY,    167 

such  aid  from  the  telescope  here,  who  knows 
that  the  eye  of  the  glorified  body  may  not  be 
itself  a  telescope,  increasing  in  its  capability 
with  the  progress  of  its  being. 

We  may  have  some  view  of  what  the  glori- 
fied body  must  necessarily  be,  in  thinking  of  it 
as  a  fit  companion  to  the  glorified  spirit.  The 
soul  having  been  in  heaven  for  ages,  and  hav- 
ing grown  in  all  spiritual  excellence,  the  body, 
to  be  a  help  to  such  a  spirit,  to  be  an  occasion 
of  joy,  and  not  of  regret,  must,  of  course,  be 
in  advance  of  our  present  corporeal  nature. 
What  must  the  body  of  Isaiah,  and  of  David, 
be,  at  the  resurrection,  to  correspond  with  the 
vast  powers  and  attainments  of  those  glorified 
spirits  ?  We  could  not  believe,  certainly  we 
could  not  see,  how  these  bodies  of  ours  could 
be  made  capable  of  such  union,  were  it  not 
that,  in  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  we  see  our  cor- 
poreal nature  capable  of  such  transformation 
as  to  make  it  compatible  for  his  human  mind, 
and  indwelling  Deity,  to  receive  it  into  their 
ineffable  imion. 


168  CATHARINE. 

All  this  being  so,  we  may,  in  some  measure, 
conceive  of  the  feelings  with  which  the  souls 
in  heaven  anticipate  the  resurrection ;  and  we 
cease  to  wonder  why  Paul  speaks  of  his  resur- 
rection as  the  great  object  of  his  desire  — not 
merely  to  be  in  heaven,  but,  being  in  heaven, 
with  Christ,  to  be  in  possession  of  a  completed 
nature,  like  Christ's. 

From  the  grave  where  it  was  sown  in  cor- 
ruption, it  will  come  forth  in  incorruption ; 
sown  in  dishonor,  it  will  be  raised  in  glory; 
sown  in  weakness,  it  will  be  raised  in  power ; 
sown  a  natural  body,  it  will  be  raised  a  spiritual 
body.  It  was  "  bare  grain "  when  it  fell  into 
the  earth;  but  the  corn,  with  its  stalk,  and 
leaves,  and  the  curious  ear,  with  its  silk,  and 
its  wrappings,  the  multiplication  of  the  ''  bare 
grain"  into  such  a  product,  are  an  illustration  of 
the  apostle's  words,  —  "  Thou  sowest  not  that 
body  that  shall  be ; "  hence,  he  argues,  say  not, 
incredulously,  "  How  are  the  dead  raised,  and 
with  what  body  do  they  come  ? "  God  giveth 
the  grain  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him ;  he 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    169 

can  do  the  same  with  regard  to  that  part  of 
man's  nature  which  is  committed  for  a  while 
to  the  earth.  Let  not  the  natural  difficulties 
connected  with  this  subject  make  us  sceptical. 
There  are  no  more  difficulties  connected  with 
a  grave  than  with  a  grape  vine.  Those  distant 
twigs,  on  that  dry  vine,  begin  to  bud  and  bloS' 
som ;  grapes  form  upon  them ;  it  is  filled  with 
clusters.  Is  there  any  thing  in  the  resurrection 
more  strange  than  this?  Twice,  inspiration 
says  to  a  man,  "  Thou  fool ! "  —  once,  to  a  god- 
less, rich  man,  and,  once,  to  him  who  is  sceptical 
about  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

When  the  glorified  spirit  and  the  glorified 
body  meet,  the  moment  when  the  investiture 
of  the  soul  with  its  spiritual  form  takes  place, 
and  the  forcible  divorce  of  the  soul  and  body 
is  terminated  by  new,  strange  nuptials,  there 
must  be  an  experience  which  now  defies  all 
power  of  imagination.  We  may  have  known, 
in  this  world,  all  the  thrilling  experiences  of 
which  our  natures  here  are  capable ;  we  shall 
also  have  seen  and  felt  what  it  is  to  awake  in 

15 


170  CATHARINE. 

heaven,  satisfied  with  Christ's  likeness;  and  all 
the  new-born  joys  of  heavenly  sensations  will 
have  seemed  tq  leave  us  nothing  to  be  experi- 
enced which  can  bring  a  new  rapture  to  the 
heart ;  yet  when  the  body  is  raised,  and  the 
triumphant  spirit  comes  to  put  it  on  afresh,  it 
will  be  an  addition  to  all  the  past  joys  of  the 
heavenly  state.  As  we  look  on  one  another, 
and  see,  in  each  other's  beauty  and  glory,  an 
image  of  our  own;  as  we  remember  how  we 
visited  the  graves  of  loved  ones,  and  wha^ 
thoughts  and  feelings  we  had  there,  and  then 
see  those  graves  yielding  forms  like  Christ's; 
as  we  see  the  Saviour's  person  mirrored  in 
ours  on  every  side,  and  behold  the  living 
changed  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
there  will  be  an  exceeding  great  joy,  such,  per- 
haps, as  the  universe  had  never  before  known. 
But  to  each  of  us  the  most  perfect  joy  will  be 
his  own  consciousness,  existence  being  then  a 
rapture  such  as  we  never  experienced.  Then 
the  bird  is  winged,  the  jewel  is  set  in  gold,  the 
flower  blooms,  the  harp  receives  all  her  strings. 


THE    REDEMPTION    OP    THE    BODY.  171 

the  heir  is  crowned.  No  wonder  that  Paul 
said,  looking  through  and  beyond  heaven,  ''  If 
by  any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the  res- 
urrection of  the  dead." 

Perhaps  we  now  think  of  the  last  day  with 
dread,  as  a  day  of  consternation.  It  is  not 
always  that  we  can  think  of  the  heavens  on 
fire,  the  earth  dissolved,  the  dead  arising,  and 
the  judgment  proceeding,  without  some  feeling 
of  dismay.  But  in  heaven,  we  shall  long  have 
anticipated  that  day  as  the  day  of  our  complete 
triumph.  The  grave  will,  till  that  time,  have 
imprisoned  one  part  of  our  nature.  The  curse 
of  the  law  will  not  have  passed  away  entirely, 
and  in  every  respect,  till  all  which  belongs  to 
us  is  redeemed  from  every  natural,  as  well  as 
moral,  consequence  of  sin.  It  will  be  an  ex- 
pectation of  unmingled  joy  to  see  this  accom- 
plished. The  approach  of  the  day  will  fill  us 
with  more  pleasure  than  the  arrival  of  any 
other  wished-for  moment.  We  shall  come 
with  Christ  to  judgment.  "Them  that  sleep 
in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him."     We  shall 


172  CATHARINE. 

have  a  part  in  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  be  asso- 
ciated with  him  ;  for,  "  Do  ye  not  know  that  the 
saints  shall  judge  the  world?"  "Know  ye  not 
that  we  shall  judge  angels?"  What  curious 
interest  there  will  be  to  receive  back  from  the 
dust  of  the  earth  the  dishonored,  corrupted, 
■mouldered,  wasted,  perished  body.  In  the  Sa- 
viour, even,  we  shall  not  have  seen  all  the  won- 
ders of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead ;  for,  "He 
w^hom  God  raised  saw  no  corruption  ; "  but  w^e 
shall  be  raised  from  corruption.  To  be  clothed 
upon  with  that  house  which  is  from  heaven, 
to  be  a  completed,  perfected  human  being,  will 
be,  up  to  that  time,  the  greatest  possible  mani- 
festation to  us  of  divine  wisdom  and  power. 

The  new  body  wdll  bring  with  it  sources  of 
enjoyment  which  will  be  a  vast  addition  to  the 
previous  happiness  of  heaven.  There  will  be 
perfect  satisfaction  in  every  one  with  his  own 
body^ — no  consciousness  of  defects,  of  deform- 
ity, of  weakness.  Comparisons  of  ourselves 
with  others  will  not  excite  dissatisfaction  and 
envy;  every  one  will  be  perfect  of  his  kind, 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    173 

and  will  differ  in  some  things  from  every  other, 
and  will  be  an  object  of  love  and  admiration 
with  all.  We  are  astonished  here  with  the 
intellectual,  oratorical,  vocal  powers  of  others, 
with  their  knowledge,  their  talent,  their  skill ; 
but  there  we  shall  no  doubt  be  filled  also  wdth 
astonishment  at  our  own  powers  and  acqui- 
sitions, and  thus  we  shall  be  more  capable  of 
appreciating  and  enjoying  the  endowments  of 
others.  God  is  pleased  to  raise  up  one  and 
another,  from  time  to  time,  with  great  powers 
to  charm  their  fellow-creatures ;  and  thus  he 
would  lure  us  on  to  heaven,  teaching  us  how 
much  we  can  enjoy,  and  how  much  we  shall 
lose  if  we  are  not  saved.  Those  who  are 
deprived  of  very  many  intellectual  and  social 
pleasures  here,  which  they  could  appreciate  as 
well  as  their  more  favored  friends,  will  soon 
have  it  made  up  to  them.  By  the  likeness  of 
their  glorified  nature  to  the  human  nature 
of  Christ,  they  are  to  be  intimately  associated 
with  him  forever.  This,  of  itself,  is  an  assur- 
ance and  pledge,  that  their  heavenly  happiness 

15* 


174  CATHARINE. 

will  not  be  measured  by  their  relative  infe- 
riority to  their  brethren  in  this  world.  To  a 
benevolent  mind  it  is  a  great  joy  to  think  of 
good  people,  who  are  deprived,  in  this  world,  of 
education  and  culture,  entering  upon  a  career 
of  boundless  knowledge,  rising  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  mental  development,  and  enjoying  it 
all  the  more  for  their  former  disadvantages  in 
their  probationary  state.  "  And,  behold,  there 
are  last  which  shall  be  first."  Distinctions 
made  here  by  knowledge  will  be  transient, 
like  gifts  of  prophecy,  and  tongues;  for  it  is  in 
this  sense  that  it  is  said,  "whether  there  be 
knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away."  And  when 
we  look  upon  those  dear  children  of  God  who 
have  long  suffered  under  bodily  deformity, 
and  "  have  borne,  and  have  had  patience,  and 
have  not  fainted,"  we  love  to  think  of  their 
glorified  bodies,  and  of  that  rich  zest  in  the 
possession  of  them  which  will  be  both  the 
natural  consequence,  and  the  gracious  reward, 
of  their  patience ;  nay,  we  love  to  think  that 
some  special,  personal   beauty,  some  peculiar 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.  175 

grace  and  glory,  may  be  given  them  by  Him 
who  SO  dehghts  in  compensatory  acts  in  na- 
ture, in  providence,  and  in  grace. 

Was  it  not  the  object  of  the  transfiguration, 
in  part,  to  give  the  human  soul  of  Christ  such 
an  idea  of  his  future  glory  in  heaven,  as 
to  strengthen  him  for  his  agony  and  death? 
Yes ;  for  the  heavenly  visitants  "  spake  of  his 
decease  which  he  should  accomplish  at  Jeru* 
salem."  That  anticipation  of  his  glorified  na- 
ture was  a  part  of  "the  joy  set  before  him.'* 
Let  Christ  on  Tabor,  and  faith,  do  for  us,  with 
regard  to  present  bodily  sorrows  and  suffer- 
ings, that  which  the  transfiguration  did  for 
Jesus  in  the  days  of  his  humiliation.  "Who 
shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be 
fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body,  accord- 
ing to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  even  to 
subdue  all  things  unto  himself." 

Through  the  long  interval  of  death  and  the 
separate  state,  the  anticipation  of  the  last  day 
and  of  the  resurrection  will,  no  doubt,  be  to 
the  wicked  a  predominant   source  of  terror. 


176  CATHARINE. 

While  the  joyful  anticipations  of  it,  in  heaven, 
will  be  like  the  advancing  steps  of  morning, 
when  there  begin  to  be  signs,  in  the  tabernacle 
for  the  sun,  of  that  bridegroom  coming  out  of 
his  chamber,  and  of  that  strong  man  rejoicing 
to  run  a  race,  and  every  thing  will  be  astir 
with  the  notes  of  preparation  for  that  day,  for 
which  all  other  days  were  made,  the  approach 
of  it  will  be,  to  the  lost,  a  deepening  gloom, 
its  arrival  the  settling  down  of  interminable 
night.  Instead  of  entering  into  their  bodies 
with  transport,  as  the  righteous  do,  they  will 
each  be  like  a  prisoner  removed  from  one  jail 
to  another  with  new  bars  and  bolts.  If  it  be 
not  imreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  appear- 
ance of  the  body  will  conform  to  the  character, 
and  if  the  bodies  of  Isaiah,  and  Paul,  and  John 
must  be  seraphic,  to  correspond  with  their 
experience  and  attainments,  what  must  the 
bodies  of  the  wicked  be !  They  will  have  spent 
centuries  in  sinning,  and  suffering,  debased  in 
every  part,  the  image  of  God  supplanted  by 
the  image  of  him  whose  service  they  preferred 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    177 

to  that  of  a  holy  God  and  Saviour.  "What  a 
moment  will  that  be,  when  the  sinner's  grave 
is  opened  by  the  last  trumpet,  and  a  hideous 
form  rises  to  receive  a  frantic  spirit !  "  The 
harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world,  and  the  reapers 
are  the  angels."  ''  As,  therefore,  the  tares  are 
gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire,  so  shall  it  be 
in  the  end  of  this  world.  The  Son  of  man 
shall  send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that 
offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity,  and  shall 
cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire  ;  there  shall  be 
wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  "And  many 
of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth 
shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and 
some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt." 
There  will  be  separations  at  the  graves  of 
those  who  lay  side  by  side  in  death  ;  many  a 
tomb  will  yield  up  subjects  both  for  heaven 
and  for  hell ;  the  differences  in  character,  be- 
tween the  regenerate  and  unregenerate,  will 
there  be  made  conspicuous  in  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  risen  body  to  the  soul,  according  as 


178  CATHARINE.         ' 

the  soul  shall  have  arrived  at  the  grave  from  a 
state  of  joy  or  of  woe.  Arrests  will  be  made, 
there  will  be  forcible  detentions,  overpowering 
strength,  disregard  of  entreaties,  remorseless 
rendings  asmider  of  families,  unclasping  of  em- 
braces, and  an  indiscriminate  mixture  of  all 
classes  among  the  wicked,  indicated  by  the 
command,  "  Bind  ye  the  tares  together,  in  bun- 
dles, to  be  burned."  Nor  will  this  be  worse 
for  holy  angels  to  witness,  than  it  was  to  see 
those  sinners  turn  their  backs  on  the  Lord's 
supper,  year  after  year.  They  could  treat 
their  Saviour's  dying  agonies,  and  his  blood, 
with  perfect  neglect  and  contempt,  through 
their  love  of  the  world  and  sin ;  now  they 
eat  the  fruit  of  their  own  way,  and  are  filled 
with  their  own  devices.  Our  treatment  of 
the  Saviour  Avill  return  upon  our  own  heads. 
What  a  change  will  be  made  in  the  ideas 
which  many  sentimentalists  had  of  holy  angels, 
when  they  see  them  executing  the  terrible  or- 
ders of  their  King !  and  what  an  illustration  it 
will  give  of  the  severity  of  justice,  —  the  rigors 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    179 

of  its  execution  being  compatible  with  the 
pure  benevolence  of  holy  angels,  because  of 
God.  We  are  constantly  admonished  that  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  will  be  a  great  part 
of  the  proceedings  on  that  day.  It  is  called 
"the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition  of  ungodly 
men."  "Behold,  the  Lord  cometh,  wdth  ten 
thousands  of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment." 

All  this  serves  to  invest  the  death  of  a  dear 
Christian  friend,  in  our  thoughts,  with  inex- 
pressible peace  and  comfort.  He,  with  his 
Redeemer,  can  say,  "  My  flesh,  also,  shall  rest 
in  hope."  If  we  are  confident  that  a  friend  is 
gone  to  be  with  Christ,  death  is,  even  now, 
swallowed  up  of  life  ;  and  now  the  thought  of 
what  the  soul  is  to  inherit,  both  before  and 
after  the  resurrection,  and  its  contrast  with  the 
experience  of  the  lost,  should  make  us  joyful 
in  tribulation.  True,  we  cannot,  by  any  arti- 
fice or  illusion,  make  death  itself  cease  to  be  a 
curse.  Full  of  beauty  and  consolation  as  it  may 
be,  —  nay,  we  will  call  it  triumphant,  —  yet 


180  CATHARINE. 

nothing  saddens  the  mind,  for  the  time,  more 
than  the  sight  of  true  beauty.  In  heaven 
things  beautiful  will  not  make  us  sad  ;  nor  will 
the  remembrance  of  a  past  joy,  which  so  in- 
evitably has  that  effect  upon  us  here.  We  are 
beholding  a  sunset.  Day  is  flinging  up  all  its 
treasures,  as  though  it  were  breaking  to  pieces 
its  pavilion  forever  and  scattering  the  frag- 
ments;  and  now,  when  all  seemed  past,  one 
more  flood  of  glory  streams  over  the  scene, 
but  only  for  a  moment;  then  comes  a  last 
touch  of  pathos,  here  and  there,  like  a  more 
distant  farewell,  a  whispered  good  night.  Have 
tears  never  come  unbidden,  do  we  never  feel 
sad,  at  such  a  time  ?  Is  not  the  whole  of  life, 
past,  present,  and  to  come,  then  tinged  with 
sombre  hues?  and  all  because  the  dying  day 
expires  with  such  beauty  and  peace.  Not  so 
when  a  storm  suddenly  brings  in  night  upon 
us.  Then  we  are  nerved  and  braced  ;  we  hear 
no  minor  key  in  the  voice  of  the  departing 
day.  It  is  perfectly  natural,  therefore,  to  weep 
over  our  dead,  even  when  every  thing  in  their 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.  181 

departure  is  consolatory  and  beautiful.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  observe  that  it  was  even  when  he 
was  on  his  way  to  raise  the  dead  body  of  his 
friend,  and  thus  to  comfort  the  weeping  sisters, 
that "  Jesus  wept." 

Let  us  more  and  more  love  the  Christian's 
grave.  Angels  love  it.  Two  of  them  sat  in 
the  tomb  where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain  — 
they  loosed  the  napkin  that  was  about  his 
head,  and  "  wrapped  "  it  "  together  in  a  place 
by  itself  3 "  and  when  Jesus  had  left  the  place, 
instead  of  following  him,  they  lingered,  to  com- 
fort the  weeping  friends  on  their  arrival  at  the 
sepulchre.  Can  it  be  Michael,  guardian  of  the 
dead  Moses  and  his  grave,  on  "the  great 
stone  "  which  has  been  rolled  "  from  the  door 
of  the  sepulchre  "  ?  Is  he  thinking  how  he 
will  one  day  hear  the  command,  "Take  ye 
away  the  stone  "  which  covers  all  who  sleep  in 
Jesus  ?  As  the  cross  is  hallowed  by  the  death 
of  the  Son  of  God  upon  it,  the  grave  is  hal- 
lowed for  the  believer  through  the  Saviour's 
burial.     There  are   three   places  which   must 

16 


182  CATHARINE. 

possess  intense  interest  for  a  glorified  friend 
One  is  his  home ;  another  is  his  seat  in  the 
house  of  God ;  and  another  is  his  grave.  Let 
us  cherish  it.  We  do  well  to  visit  such  a  spot. 
Sometimes  approaching  it  with  sadness  and 
fear,  we  go  away  with  surprising  peace ;  look- 
ing back  for  a  last  view  of  the  stone,  and  feel- 
ing towards  the  spot  as  we  do  when  we  are  leav- 
ing little  children  in  the  dark  for  the  night,  un- 
utterable love,  we  find,  has  cast  out  fear.  Those 
graves  are  treasures  which  heaven  has  made 
sure,  "  sealing  the  stone,  and  setting  a  watch." 
Of  those  who  still  live,  we  are  not  certain  that, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  they  will  henceforth 
be  an  unmingled  source  of  comfort;  but  they 
who  are  in  those  graves  are  garnered  fruits,  are 
finished  works,  are  each  like  the  rod  of  Aaron 
laid  up  in  the  ark,  which  "  bloomed  blossoms 
and  yielded  almonds."  All  else  which  is  dear 
to  us  on  earth  may  seem  changeful,  or  changed ; 
the  property  may  have  disappeared,  the  home 
may  have  been  broken  up,  the  plighted  faith 
and  love  may  have  been  recalled ;   the  whole 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.  183 

condition  of  life  may  have  been  altered :  but 
we  visit  that  burial  spot,  and  there  is  perma- 
nence; that  fast-anchored  isle  has  defied  the 
surges  and  roaring  currents ;  the  grave  seems 
beautifully  constant;  it  has  not  betrayed  our  con- 
fidence ;  it  is  not  weary  of  its  precious  charge  ; 
it  has  kindly  staid  behind  to  permit  and  en- 
courage our  griefs  when  all  else  may  have  fled. 
The  winter's  snows  have  fallen,  the  tempests 
have  beaten,  there ;  and  now,  this  April  or  May 
morning,  it  is  as  steadfast  and  quiet  as  when 
the  slumber  there  began. 

Great  honor  is  paid  to  the  dead  in  giving 
them  precedence  to  the  living  at  the  last  day. 
"  The  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first,"  that  is,  be- 
fore the  living  are  changed ;  —  they  shall  rise, 
and  after  that,  in  a  moment,  in  a  twinkling  of 
an  eye,  at  the  last  trumpet,  the  living  will  be 
transformed ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and 
the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we 
shall  be  changed.  This  is  said  in  order  to 
comfort  those  who  mourn  the  death  of  Chris- 
tian friends,  —  intimating  such  care  on  the  part 


184  CATHARINE. 

of  their  Kedeemer,  that  the  apostle  is  directed 
to  tell  us  "  by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  that  we 
which  are  alive,  and  remain  to  the  coming  of 
the  Lord,  shall  not"  have  precedence  of 'Hhem 
that  are  asleep."  It  is  declared  that  the  change 
of  the  living  will  be  effected  "  in  a  moment, 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye."  This  must  be  a 
matter  of  pure  revelation;  for  it  could  not 
have  been  foretold,  from  any  apparent  proba- 
bilities, whether  it  would  happen  instantane- 
ously or  by  degrees.  It  is  suited  to  impress 
the  mind  with  the  power  and  majesty  of  Christ, 
inasmuch  as  this  is  to  be  one  of  the  great  acts 
connected  with  his  second  coming,  and  as  really 
an  exercise  of  his  omnipotence  as  the  raising 
of  the  dead.  For  he  is  "  Lord  both  of  the  dead 
and  of  the  living." 

"And  the  sea  shall  give  up  the  dead  that 
are  in  it."  Many  a  form  of  a  believer  is  waitr 
ing  there  for  the  redemption  of  the  body.  Nor 
has  it  escaped  the  eye  of  the  great  archangel. 
Wrapped  in  its  rude  shroud,  or  decomposed 
and  scattered,  or  in  whatever  way  seemingly 


THE    REDEMPTION    OP    THE    BODY.        185 

annihilated,  personal  identity  still  attaches  to 
it,  and  the  all-seeing  eye  watches  every  thing 
which  is  essential  to  that  identity,  as  easily  as 
though  the  body  were  in  the  grave  with  kin- 
dred dust.  That  the  power  of  God  in  the  res- 
urrection may  be  fully  illustrated,  and  that 
some  may  be  preeminent  witnesses  in  their 
own  persons  of  that  mighty  power,  perhaps  it 
will  appear  that  they  were  permitted,  for  that 
purpose,  to  be  devoured,  or  to  dissolve  and  to 
waste  away  in  the  sea.  If  they  who  came 
out  of  great  tribulation  are  arrayed  in  white 
robes  among  the  righteous,  we  may  look  for 
some  special  sign  of  glory  and  joy  in  those 
who  receive  their  bodies,  not  from  the  shelter- 
ing grave,  but  from  the  sea,  and  from  the  very 
frame  of  nature,  into  which  their  bodily  organ- 
ization will,  in  one  way  and  another,  have  been 
incorporated.  0  the  unspeakable  wonders  and 
raptures  connected  with  the  resurrection,  both 
as  it  relates  to  our  own  experience,  and  to  the 
illustrations  which  the  resurrection  will  afford, 
of  the  divine  wisdom  and  power.     No  wonder, 

16* 


186  CATHARINE. 

we  say,  that  Paul  esteemed  it  the  height  of 
Christian  privilege,  that  he,  as  a  redeemed  hu- 
man being,  "  might  attain  unto  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead." 

It  is  an  innocent  fancy,  if  it  be  not  worthy 
of  a  better  name,  that  the  great  attention 
which  has  been  given  of  late  years  to  new 
cemeteries,  now  in  such  contrast  to  the  old 
graveyards,  whose  reckless  disorder  so  per- 
fectly expressed  abandonment  to  sorrow  and 
unresisting  surrender  to  the  last  enemy,  is  a 
symptomatic  token  of  growing  faith  in  the 
great,  general  heart  of  the  Christianized  part 
of  the  race,  with  regard  to  that  consummation 
of  all  things,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

As  at  sea  there  is,  within  certain  degrees  of 
latitude  and  longitude,  an  uphill  and  a  down- 
hill, made  by  the  convexity  of  the  globe,  we, 
perhaps,  may  have  reached  the  meridian  of  the 
great  voyage,  and  may  have  begun  to  feel  the 
inclination  which  will  set  us  forward  more 
swiftly  to  the  end.  The  power  of  the  great 
consummation  will  be  waxing  stronger   and 


THE    REDEMPTION    OP    THE    BODY.        187 

stronger.  Men  are  looking  to  the  cemeteries 
as  places  where  great  treasures  went  down,  or 
were  abandoned,  and  they  begin  to  think  that 
some  great  restoration  awaits  them.  These 
costly  and  beautiful  cemeteries,  which  men  are 
preparing,  are  like  Hiram's  contributions  to 
the  building  of  the  temple ;  they  foretell  some 
great  thing ;  they  have  a  look  not  only  of  ex- 
pectation, but  of  design,  not  merely  of  faith, 
but  of  hope.  With  a  truly  liberal  regard  to  the 
decoration  of  those  burial  places  with  costly 
works  of  general  interest,  in  the  department  of 
art,  we  shall  do  well  to  make  provision,  by 
statute,  for  the  perpetual  repair  and  preserva- 
tion of  every  enclosure,  and  every  grave,  the 
whole  body  corporate  thus  pledging  itself,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  each  incumbent,  that  his  last 
resting  place  shall  be  the  care  of  the  perpetu- 
ated fraternity  to  the  end  of  time. 

And  when  the  prophecies  are  accomplished, 
and  the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without 
hands  has  filled  the  earth,  and  the  apostasy 
which  is  to  follow  the  general  prevalence  of 


188  CATHARINE. 

religion,  has  deluged  the  world  with  blood, 
and  Satan,  loosed  a  little  season,  is  triumph- 
ing in  his  maddened  career,  and  the  graves  are 
full,  and  the  souls  under  the  altar,  with  their 
importunate  cry,  can  no  longer  wait  for  the 
avenging  arm, — then  shall  be  seen  the  sign 
of  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  wica  pcwer  and  great  glory. 

As  we  commit  a  Christian  friend  to  the  earth, 
and  as  we  visit  his  resting  place,  let  us  think 
that  now,  the  anticipation  of  the  rising  from 
the  dead  is,  to  him,  the  great  object  of  personal 
expectation  and  hope.  The  time  is  not  far 
distant,  when,  in  heaven,  we,  in  like  manner, 
shall  be  filled  with  that  expectation,  as  we  look 
down  upon  the  places  where  our  bodies  await 
the  signal  of  the  resurrection. 

Let  not  the  image  of  our  friends,  as  sick  and 
in  pain,  occupy  our  thoughts.  "  For  the  former 
things  are  passed  away,"  Their  language,  as 
they  call  back  to  us,  is,  "As  dying,  and  be- 
hold, we  live." 

We  who  have  children  and  friends  that  sleep 


THE  REDEMPTION  OF  THE  BODY.    189 

in  Jesus,  and  who  expect  ourselves  to  be,  with 
them,  and  with  one  another,  children  of  the 
resurrection,  will  soon  know  each  other  in  the 
presence  of  Christ.  We  shall  have  become 
reunited  in  the  presence  of  each  other  to  our 
loved  and  lost  ones.  The  great  question  then 
will  be.  How  did  we  fulfil  God's  special  and 
benevolent  designs  in  our  trials  ?  If  we  revisit 
scenes  of  deep  affliction  where  death  and  the 
grave  usurped  their  dread  power  over  us  for 
a  season,  we  shall  remember  our  misery  as 
waters  that  pass  away.  In  hope  of  this,  we 
will  patiently  and  joyfully  labor  and  suffer. 
"  The  night  is  far  spent ;  the  day  is  at  hand." 


On  a  pleasant  morning  in  April,  three 
months  from  the  time  of  her  decease,  the  mor- 
tal part  of  the  dear  child  whose  name  gives 
this  book  its  title,  was  removed  from  its  tem- 
porary resting  place  in  the  city,  to  her  grave 
in  the  family  cemetery.     As  the  hands  of  her 


190  CATHARINE. 

father,  which  baptized  her,  laid  her  to  rest  in 
her  sweet  and  peaceful  bed,  and  the  simple 
stone,  with  her  chosen  "  lilies  of  the  valley  and 
rose  buds  "  carved  on  it,  was  set  up,  —  the  gift 
of  one  whose  consanguinity  was  made  by  him 
the  delicate  ground  of  claim  to  do  this  touch- 
ing and  abiding  act  of  love,  —  it-  seemed  as 
though,  in  some  sense,  there  had  already  been 
brought  to  pass  the  saying  which  is  written, 
''  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory." 

But  in  the  night,  a  gentle  April  shower  fell ; 
and  as  the  thoughts  were  carried  by  it,  spell- 
bound, from  the  chamber  where  she  was  born, 
to  her  newly-made  grave, —  that  night  being 
the  first  of  her  sleeping  there,  —  it  seemed 
very  plain  that,  though  Death  had  been  con- 
quered, the  Grave  still  kept  possession  of  the 
field.  —  Christ  "  will  be  thy  destruction,"  0 
Grave,  as  he  has  been  "  thy  plagues,"  0  Death ! 
The  early  rain  seemed  to  have  made  good 
haste  in  visiting  the  fresh  mound  and  the 
flower  seeds  already  placed  there,  conspiring 
with  them  to  cover  the  grave  speedily  with 


THE    REDEMPTION    OF    THE    BODY.  191 

emblems  of  the  resurrection,  as  though,  with 
confident  boast  and  exultation,  they  would, 
beforehand,  say,  "Where  is  thy  victory?'' 
Simple  thoughts  and  fancies,  which  we  hardly 
dare  utter,  have  wonderful  power,  in  great 
sorrows,  to  change  the  whole  current  of  the 
feelings  -,  for  while  that  soft  shower  was  heard, 
falling  on  the  grave,  it  seemed  as  if  a  heavenly 
watcher  was  in  care  of  the  place ;  and  so,  leav- 
ing them  together,  it  was  easy  and  pleasant  to 
fall  asleep. 

And  now,  seeing  that  there  is  not  one  ex- 
perience in  this  volume  which  is  not,  or  may 
not  be,  enjoyed,  and  surpassed,  by  every  dying 
saint,  and  by  surviving  friends,  and  as  the 
narrative  is  thus  saved  from  all  just  thought 
either  of  ostentation,  or  of  setting  forth  a 
discouraging  standard  of  experience,  may  the 
book  find  protection  from  those  who,  know- 
ing the  innocent  weaknesses,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  blessedness,  of  those  who  mourn,  will 
kindly  appreciate  the  motives  with  which  it  is 


192  CATHARINE. 

written.  For  more  than  a  year  the  narrative 
has  been  laid  hy,  from  indefinable  reluctance 
at  the  thought  of  publication.  But  this  afflic- 
tion, which  was,  at  first,  like  the  bulb  of  the 
hyacinth  with  its  white,  pendulous  roots  in 
water,  —  those  symbols  of  hope  and  pledges  of 
growth,  —  has  now  bloomed  and  become  fra- 
grant with  such  comforts  and  consolations,  that 
we  venture  to  set  the  plant  in  our  window, 
perchance  it  may  meet  the  eye  of  one  and 
another  as  they  walk  and  are  sad.  Perhaps  it 
may,  here  and  there,  win  love  and  praise  for 
Jesus.    ^^He  hath  done  all  things  well." 


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